


Trampled Anemone

by teecup_angel



Series: Flower Divergence Series [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: ... or so he thinks, A lot of characters make an appearance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Claude and Dimitri Friendship, Claude is the best matchmaker in all of Fodlan, Everyone Ships Dimitri and Byleth Together, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route Spoilers, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route Spoilers, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Miscommunication and Bad Information Gets People Killed, Not Beta Read, POV Outsider, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2020-12-27 23:35:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 60,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21127106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teecup_angel/pseuds/teecup_angel
Summary: Claude has a front-row seat for the love story between the enigmatic mercenary turned professor and the crown prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.Claude may or may not have had a hand on the plot.  (He totally did)(Verdant Wind Route Canon Divergence, Dimileth)





	1. “Fleeting Love” / “Short-Lived Love”

**Author's Note:**

> This… is so much longer than I expected. I thought I would be able to cap it at 8k words but, nope, the characters didn’t want to cooperate… especially Claude… most especially Claude… 
> 
> Some lines are directly from the game, most specifically Verdant Wind and Azure Moon routes. 
> 
> Byleth and Dimitri start a romantic relationship before the timeskip but their relationship starts after Dimitri turns 18 so I didn't tag this as underage. 
> 
> This is set on Claude’s POV because why not? XD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude's life in the monastery has certainly become much more amusing ever since the mysterious mercenary turned professor became the professor of Golden Deers.

Claude liked to watch people. It was fun watching them and see how they react to things, especially their reactions to events he had created or manipulated himself. There were many things about Fodlan he still didn’t know and observing people was one of the easiest ways to get information. 

It was due to his people watching that he realized there was a clear distance between the future Adrestian emperor and the rest of her class. Everyone respected her (even Ferdinand von Aegir) but it became pretty clear to Claude that the Black Eagle students weren’t close with their house leader and Edelgard herself didn’t take any real steps in bridging that gap. The closest classmates she had was Hubert which wasn’t surprising and Dorothea who was trying to get close but seemed to be having a hard time. 

On the other hand, the future king of Faerghus was trying to bridge the gap between him and the other Blue Lion students. Just like the Black Eagle, everyone respected their prince (except maybe Felix but Claude had a feeling there was something more to that than what meets the eye) and his fellow Blue Lion students were also trying to bridge the gap as well but a lot of them had either too much reservation or were simply a bit too hung up with the whole royalty thing. From what Claude could gather (via eavesdropping), the kingdom’s sense of chivalry and honor was the main thing keeping them from actually becoming close to their prince as he had hoped they would.

Claude had to admit, he found Fodlan’s culture both strange and fascinating. The Church of Seiros was the greatest mystery of all but he liked hearing about the different cultures and practices of the three great factions. Since the alliance was originally from the kingdom, Claude also found it fun to list down the differences of both the alliance and kingdom. 

He realized that House Gloucester’s great emphasis on honor and how a noble should act actually had a lot of similarities from the kingdom’s code of chivalry and honor (with a few changes, of course) while House Daphnel’s warrior mentality seemed to be quite similar to the kingdom’s as well. He definitely saw the same look on some of Judith’s men in the Blue Lion students when they had been sparring against Felix (it had been a seven vs one fight). A casual questioning to Annette informed him that the three of the students that had the same movements and techniques (albeit beginners) to House Dapnel’s soldiers were actually from Charon territory. Two of them who lasted longer than the ones from Charon were from Gautier territory and the two who lasted the longest against the Fraldarius heir were from Itha and Fraldarius territory. The ones from Gautier, Fraldarius, and Itha were more ruthless and more focused on ending the fight with one blow than what he was used to seeing from House Daphnel’s warriors but the core of their techniques definitely came from the same foundation. There was even a time he actually saw Ingrid use the same sword stance as he had seen Judith normally use when she had spared with Felix. The blue-haired young man still won but his sparring partner was definitely no pushover. He wondered if Judith would hold a lance the same way the Galatea girl would. He had a feeling she would. 

That’s why he had been surprised when the enigmatic mercenary who saved their lives said that her allegiance was to the Leicester Alliance. He had been watching her the entire time and he recognized her techniques and movements. The foundation was certainly from the Kingdom. It held a certain coldness that was absent in the Alliance. He definitely saw it clearer in the way her boss, which he later found out to be her father, fought while he was mounted. It reminded him of the time he saw Dimitri practice his mounted lance works but some of the techniques felt… archaic? A bit older and ceremonial than what Dimitri was practicing would probably be a more accurate description.

All of these only made the teal-haired woman all the more interesting.

He had been surprised that she had decided to teach the Golden Deer. He had expected her to choose the Blue Lion if he was being honest. During their journey back to Garreg Mach, he had observed that she directed most of her questions to the blond prince and her eyes would most definitely linger on the Blue Lion leader most. Her goodbye before she was whisked away to meet Rhea was mostly directed at Dimitri too. Regardless, he was happy that she picked his house as it would now be easier to solve the puzzle surrounding her and he was also looking forward to seeing her in action again during the mock battle.

The mock battle only solidified his suspicions. She had decided to take him, Hilda, Ignatz, and Marianne to battle. Leonie and Lysithea were peeved at being benched but they didn’t really make a fuss when he whispered to them they can use this chance to see if the so-called legendary mercenary was truly worthy of such title.

She had positioned him, Ignatz and Marianne in the west forest while she and Hilda lured the two classes to their southern position. She left Hilda at the edge of the western forest to lure the Black Eagle House while she lured the Blue Lion House by actually dashing towards the nervous archer, cutting his bow with one slash and forcing him to yield.

It was a bold move and a bit too reckless for Claude’s taste but it was the perfect time to just see how good a tactician she was.

Claude… wasn’t sure what happened.

The last concrete thing he knew from the mock battle was during the time Hilda was holding her ground against Ferdinand and Hubert while Edelgard and Dorothea were advancing towards their position. He was trying to snipe the dark mage from his position but it was hard when Hilda was jumping all over the place (“If I don’t, I’ll get hit!”) so his arrows were only able to stop the dark-haired mage from completing any spells while Marianne had to focus all her attention in healing the pink-haired axe user from Ferdinand’s relentless attacks and Ignatz was trying to keep Edelgard and Dorothea from advancing too quickly to their pink-haired classmate’s position. 

Just as Edelgard and Ferdinand were about to take down Hilda with a pincer attack, the mercenary turned professor dashed towards Edelgard with her sword raised above her head. Edelgard raised her axe to guard against the attack and everyone could only gasp in surprise when the older woman jumped instead, stepping on the white-haired woman’s axe to jump behind the stunned woman. Before the Black Eagle leader could turn around to attack her, a lance was thrown at her, forcing her to dodge out of the way. The teal-haired woman took a step to the right and the lance barely missed her, striking Dorothea on the arm instead.

Thankfully, it was just a training lance. 

However, it was Dimitri who had thrown the lance. 

Even with the dull blade of the lance, the songstress still received a painful bruise on the arm as she went down. Both the Black Eagle students and his house barely had any time to react when the Blue Lions students joined the fray. Dedue took the stunned Ferdinand down and the red-haired noble could only yelp as he was whisked off his feet by Dedue’s axe attack, dropping his lance unintentionally. 

“Stay together in the forest!” Their professor yelled as she charged Edelgard once more and Hilda jumped into the forest, her adrenaline forcing her to obey their professor without question. Claude heard a rustling to their right and immediately fired.

His arrow turned into dust as it collided with Mercedes’ Fire spell. 

Fortunately, Marianne followed his lead and hit her fellow mage with her Blizzard spell.

“Oh my. I yield.” Mercedes said with a smile as her feet got encased in ice.

“Oh, wow.” Ignatz’s awed tone made him turn his attention back to the chaos that was the Black Eagle vs the Blue Lion vs the Golden Deer’s Professor.

Which, from the look of it, was more like the Black Eagle vs the Blue Lion and the Golden Deer’s Professor. 

Hubert was able to take down Dedue but he was taken out by Dimitri in retaliation who had grabbed Ferdinand’s lance. The fact that he was taken out by his fellow housemate’s lance had the dark mage glaring at said housemate who was laughing sheepishly at his glaring companion.

That left Edelgard to defend against both the older woman and her fellow house leader. She was purely on defense against the relentless assault between the two. Every time one of them finished their attack, the other one was already onto Edelgard, forcing her to keep her guard up instead of retaliating. This caused the Black Eagle’s professor to finally advance towards them. Seeing Manuela moving from her position, the Blue Lion’s professor also started to advance. As the Golden Deer’s professor stepped back just as Dimitri lunged at Edelgard, she rushed towards her fellow professor. Hanneman dodged the slash of her sword, entering Marianne’s range. 

Which was apparently the ex-mercenary’s plan as she shouted, “Marianne!”

Marianne reacted on instinct, blasting a burst of ice towards the father of Crestology. Hanneman chuckled as he said, “Splendid Blizzard spell, Miss Marianne. I yield.”

While the Golden Deer's professor took down Hanneman, Manuela had managed to heal Edelgard and Dimitri had to continuously take a step back as Manuela backed her student up with a continuous barrage of Nosferatu. The future emperor charged her fellow heir, aiming to slam her axe on him as hard as she could to take him down.

Dimitri took a hit from Nosferatu as he met Edelgard’s charge head-on. Too focused on the prince, Edelgard could only gasp as she felt the blunt blade of the professor’s training sword slam against her waist, traveling towards her back as the older woman didn’t bother stopping at them, rushing towards her fellow professor.

Edelgard sighed and lowered her axe as she admitted in a composed tone belying the fire in her eyes, “I yield.”

Dimitri didn’t even bother saying anything, already rushing towards the two women locked into a duel. The Golden Deer’s professor dodged the barrage of Nosferatu Manuela sent her way as she continued to advance towards the older woman. The tip of her blunt training sword tapped Manuela’s stomach at the same time Dimitri’s lance swiped her feet, making her yelp ungracefully.

“Oh, was that nece-” Manuela didn’t finish her sentence as both Dimitri and the new professor clashed blades right in front of her now that she was out of the battle. 

Everyone could only watch as the two continued to clash blades. It almost looked like a dance to everyone who was watching.

Claude knew that his professor had more experience but Dimitri made up his lack of experience with his inhuman strength and recklessness. More often than not, he noticed that the older woman would stop before her blunt blade could connect because the blond prince had stepped towards her attack instead of dodging or guarding against it. If she continued her attack, the impact between her strike and his advancement would have dealt a serious injury.

Claude wasn’t sure if Dimitri was doing it on purpose or he was simply being reckless.

Either way, it worked on his favor.

That’s when Claude noticed two things.

The first thing was Dimitri was smiling. It was a bit of an unnerving smile but enthralling all the same.

The second thing was his professor was glancing at him from time to time. He wasn’t sure why she wasn’t solely focusing on the young prince trying to take her down and that caused him to stare at them more intensely.

That’s when he realized that she only glanced at him when he had a clear shot of Dimitri.

Oh, wow.

Claude chuckled and shook his head.

And here he thought she also had the code of chivalry and honor that the Kingdom had.

Wasn’t she just full of surprises?

Claude nocked an arrow and aimed it at the two, ignoring Hilda’s questioning “Ummm, what are you doing, Claude? You might hit our professor, you know that right?” 

He pulled the string and waited, staring intently at both his professor and his target. The second their eyes meet once again, he took his shot.

And hit Dimitri right on the back. Since it was a blunt arrow, it only bounced off his back. But that was enough of a distraction for her to slammed her sword against his legs, sweeping him off his feet. 

She pointed the tip of her sword at the fallen prince’s neck and ordered coldly, “Yield.”

Dimitri’s lips curled into an open smile as he breathlessly said, “I yield.”

With that declaration, the mock battle ended with the Golden Deer’s victory.

With the Golden Deer’s victory during the mock battle, Claude had decided to find their professor to congratulate her. 

Maybe even joke about how he had schemes up his sleeve he would have used if her tactic did not work. Which was true. He did have schemes prepared for the mock battle and he had been prepared to use them had the need arose. 

He found her in the reception hall with, no surprise here, Dimitri. She was simply staring at the young prince with that unnerving blank stare of hers as he congratulated her and her class before praising her strategies and skills in the mock battle.

Claude found it strange that his fellow house leader didn’t seem to mind that his house had been used as an attack dog while the house of the woman he was currently praising remained safe. 

As he walked towards them, he heard her praise his lance work and offered suggestions on how he could improve.

Oh wow, Claude never knew Dimitri’s face could brighten that much. 

She noticed Claude first and nodded at him. Claude smiled at both of them as he greeted, “Hey, after-battle review? Should I call Edelgard too?”

“Nothing of the sort, Claude.” Dimitri replied with a polite smile, “I was simply congratulating your house for winning the mock battle. You are truly blessed to have such a talented professor.”

The dark-haired young man smiled at his fellow house leader as he patted his professor’s shoulder, “Yup, we’re lucky to have Teach with us, that’s for sure.”

He noticed that the prince’s blue eyes were trained at where his hand had been and he couldn’t help the grin that took over his face as he finally got enough evidence to support his hypothesis. 

Before anyone could say anything else, the main members of the Golden Deer House surrounded them.

“Hey, Prof- Oh, hey, Dimitri!” Hilda smiled at the prince, unable to hide her surprise.

“Congratulations on such a magnificent battle, Your Highness.” Lorenz said to Dimitri politely, making Claude roll his eyes.

It would be nice if the Gloucester heir would be as polite to him as he was to the prince.

“Yes, it was.” Dimitri replied, smiling politely at all of them, “We all gave it our all and it showed in our performance in the field.”

Claude noticed that Marianne and Ignatz both blushed at the prince’s comment and Hilda giggled as she said, “Oh, it was nothing. Everybody else did the hard work.”

The most surprising thing was Lorenz had also preened at Dimitri’s words even though he wasn’t even part of the units who had been on the battlefield. 

He observed as the blond-haired young man bow at their professor before saying, “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I must talk to Professor Hanneman about our performance as well.”

Their professor nodded silently. Taking that as his cue to leave, Dimitri turned around and began to walk away but stopped when the older woman commented, “You leave your right side open when you strike.”

The prince turned to face her once more and smiled brightly as he replied, “Thank you for your honest criticism, Professor. I will make sure to take that to heart.”

The blue-haired woman tilted her head slightly and placed her right elbow against her crossed left arm as she suggested, “Dad has a similar style as yours. He might be able to give you some pointers.”

The younger man nodded and continued to smile at her as he said, “Thank you, Professor. I shall ask Sir Jeralt the next time I see him.”

She nodded silently at that watched as he finally left the reception hall. Claude didn’t even have time to say anything as Leonie was immediately at her, “Hey, Professor. Could you look at my lance work later?”

Everybody else took that as a cue to talk to their Professor about what area they want to improve on. 

… Except Claude.

He watched and listened, of course.

But more importantly, he planned his next action.

Hilda was his first recruit. To be perfectly honest, he wasn’t sure if he recruited Hilda or if Hilda recruited him. It was sometimes hard to perfectly assess the situation when it concerned the pink-haired Goneril.

One afternoon, during their break, Hilda approached him while he had been lying on the grass near their classroom and asked, “Do you think the Professor and Dimitri are seeing each other?”

Claude snorted at the thought and raised his head, seeing Hilda sitting next to him with her chin resting on her kneecaps, staring at something ahead of them. He sat and followed Hilda’s gaze, finding Dimitri and their professor standing in front of the entrance to the Blue Lion classroom. They were a bit too far to hear what they were talking about but Claude could clearly see the sweet adorable smile on Dimitri’s face and the older woman still had a stoic expression but her eyes were definitely softer than normal and even her stance was relaxed, void of the usual alertness she usually had.

“Nah.” Claude replied, watching as their professor nod at whatever the prince was telling her.

“Really?” His partner-in-crime frowned as they continued to watch the two.

“They do like each other, that’s for sure.” He added with a nod.

“Everybody can see that.” She snorted, watching as their professor raise her hand to touch the young man’s arm, “If they’re not together yet, can you just imagine how they would be like if they were?” 

He couldn't help but grin at the adorable pink cheeks the prince was now sporting at the simple touch. He turned towards his pink-haired companion and said, “My dear Hilda, why imagine when we can make it a reality?”

“Oh, my sweet Claude, are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?” She turned to face him, a similar grin on her face as she asked coyly.

He shrugged as he nonchalantly said, “We only have one year in the academy so this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Why not make the best out of it, right?” 

“I’m sure you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart.” She said sweetly yet sarcastically at the same time. A feat in Golden Deer that only the pink-haired Goneril could do. She leaned towards him and said, “But I like the idea so I’ll help out.”

She winked as she added, “A bit.”

And that was the beginning of Garreg Mach’s matchmaking effort of the century. 

They didn’t do anything right out. First, they scouted and observed. Hilda managed to get Marianne into their cause who provided unique insights as she and Dimitri were apparently friends or, as Hilda calls them, church-going buddies.

He wasn’t sure how that was possible as Marianne was a devout believer while Dimitri… Well, Dimitri did go to church frequently but Claude never saw him pray even once. 

There was this one time that the professor invited the two house leader to chore practice. She had apparently invited Edelgard as well but the white-haired woman had refused. It was… a unique chore practice to say the least. Claude didn’t know the words to the hymn and Teach fumbled through some parts, apparently only learning the song a few hours ago from Rhea herself. The only person who knew the words had been Dimitri and he spent most of the time staring at the professor singing with an open mouth.

Smooth and subtle the crown prince of Faerghus was not.

Regardless, Marianne’s inclusion brought a bit of insight into the Blue Lion leader’s side of this cause. The usually quiet young woman did have information about the prince’s obvious attraction to the professor. She confirmed that Dimitri would find ways to ask her how her professor was doing and not a single conversation between them passed without at least a mention about the enigmatic new professor.

Hilda cooed and found it adorably pathetic. 

They also had to take care of the monthly missions they were given in between. It was surprising how a lot of their missions were for the Kingdom. He knew that things in the kingdom were bad since the death of Dimitri’s father, but he didn’t expect it to be this bad.

A silver lining to all this mess was most probably the fact that these missions led to Dimitri and Teach talking.

A lot.

There was not a day where Claude did not see the two of them talk for at least five minutes. Even after they return to the monastery from their monthly missions, she would meet with Dimitri first before reporting to the archbishop. If Claude didn’t know the Golden Deer’s professor better, he would assume that her loyalty did lie with the kingdom and its crown prince.

It didn’t though. Although her relationship with the prince was moving along without their assistance, it wasn’t coming at a pace that Claude deemed acceptable. She also spent a lot of her time making sure the Golden Deer students were on top of everything and still helped out in the monastery on her free days. Her loyalty was unquestionable to herself and what she considered to be her side. Since her side included both her fawns and the prince of the Blue Lion, her loyalty was to both of them.

Which was fine with Claude. He could work with that.

The pace was unacceptable so it was time to intervene.

He started out small. He told Marianne to try and talk about how their professor gave flowers she planted herself but never received any at all. The blue-haired healer agreed to talk to her friend about it as it was the truth and she felt a horrible realizing that her house leader did say the truth. Claude had to stop Marianne from actually giving their professor flowers as that would definitely lessen the impact of the final stage for this specific plan.

The next step went underway when he saw the Blue Lion leader with his loyal retainer in the greenhouse. He only stayed long enough to make sure that they were planting flowers and not some kind of fruit or vegetable.

He didn’t know what kind it was but he was sure it was some kind of flower seeds so he had left soon after. 

The results of his first plan came into fruition one morning while he and Hilda were standing outside the Golden Deer classroom and saw their professor walking towards them… holding an impressive bouquet of purple and white anemones.

“Oh, Professor! Those are such pretty anemones!” Hilda cooed at the bouquet of anemones in her professor’s hands. She smiled sweetly as she asked, “Are those for me?”

Claude chuckled behind her as he said, “‘Fraid not, my dear Hilda.”

He clapped Teach’s back as he explained dramatically, “Those pretty flowers you are seeing came from no one else but the one and only crown prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus!”

He noticed that the Golden Deer students inside the classroom turned to stare at them.

Hilda’s hands went up to touch her cheeks as she uttered with a delighted smile, “Oh my! Dimitri gave them to you?”

“He sure did.” Claude replied for their professor, making her sigh.

“Stop kidding around, Claude.” The older woman chided her house leader before trying to explain, “I don’t know who gave these to me. They were left by my door.”

“I’m not kidding, Teach.” The young man replied with a grin, “I saw Dimitri leave them by your door early this morning.”

Which was true. He had been keeping track of the growth of the anemones Dimitri and Dedue had planted and had started to wake up earlier than usual to watch over his professor’s door every morning since he realized that the anemones were in full bloom. The prince was too shy and proper to give the flowers to the target of his affection in front of an audience so he would most probably give it during the early morning or late evening. Late evening was crossed out because it would be scandalous if anyone see them together. He also crossed out the possibility that Dedue would be the one to deliver the flowers instead. Dimitri’s honor would definitely not allow it. It was also possible that Dimitri would leave it in the Golden Deer classroom during the early morning so he kept his watch on top of a tree that had a clear view of both Teach’s dormitory and the entrance to the nobles’ dormitory building. All of this watching also helped train his eyesight in noticing the smallest change in details which helped him during the practical portion of his Sniper certification. (Teach even praised him about that)

His pink-haired classmate tilted her head as she asked, “Claude, sweetie, what are you doing by the Professor’s door so early?”

He continued to grin as he replied, “Making sure Dimitri gives the flowers to Teach, of course! I have a personal investment to this love story, you know.”

He sighed dramatically and shook his head as he explained, “You should have seen him, Hilda. He was pacing all over Teach’s door, pausing in front of it to knock but never doing so. Watching him was so stressful I almost went towards Teach’s door myself so I can knock for him.”

“That’s so adorable.” Hilda cooed, giggling slightly.

Their professor sighed and reminded the two, “Come on, class is starting.”

Both Claude and his partner-in-crime did not miss the pink hue of her cheeks though.

“Okay, Professor.” Hilda replied with a nod the same time Claude grinned at the older woman, “Sure, Teach.”

The teal-haired woman began to walk towards the Golden Deer classroom, followed by both of her most troublesome students, and added, “Also, Claude. You’re in detention for a week.”

“Eh? For what?” The dark-haired young man asked as he blinked at his professor.

“For stalking a fellow student.” The professor replied without looking back, making Hilda giggle as Claude groaned.

“Give me a break, Teach. I was doing it for your sake! And Dimitri’s!”

Claude’s detention for the entire week was to have Lorenz teach him the proper etiquette of a noble. He didn’t know how she did it but she got Ferdinand to assist Lorenz as well.

It was a creative form of torture that actually impressed him a bit. 

Torture for Lorenz, of course, not for him.

The bouquet of anemone adorned the Golden Deer classroom for the whole day. Claude wasn’t sure why she had brought the bouquet with her in the first place until he saw her talk to Marianne about the flowers. The blue-haired young woman had a rare smile on her face (that was so beautiful Claude pinched Lorenz’ cheek to make sure he wasn’t dreaming) as she listened to what their professor was talking about. She held out her hands towards the flowers and the magic circle of a Faith spell appeared in front of her hands as the flowers glowed in white light. He prodded Lysithea about it and learned that the Heal spell, when used on plants, could prolong the life of plants. It was mainly used to preserve the freshness of fruits and vegetables during winter. The downside was that using Heal on plant life must be done by those who are exceptional in Faith magic as the caster must maintain a certain degree of power to the spell itself. Use too little and it would not have any effect but use too much and the plant life would rapidly wither due to overexposure of Faith magic.

Huh. Claude didn’t even know about that. He supposed he had been too focused on the history and culture of Fodlan that he had ignored the finer details of how magic worked in Fodlan. Almyran magic worked differently than Fodlan’s. At the very least, Almyrans do not heavily rely on magic and the Almyran magic users all come from different sects that heavily guard their arts. He heard that Fhirdiad has a prestigious School of Sorcery and admission was possible as long as one had the finances to support their stay in the school. But if that was so, it was a bit strange that the Blue Lion House doesn’t have more magic users than the Black Eagle House.

But he was getting off-topic now.

In other news, the bouquet of anemone certainly piqued the entire Golden Deer class’ curiosity. During their afternoon break, everyone watched from the windows as their professor walked towards the Blue Lion classroom, holding the bouquet of anemone in her hands. The adorable grey-haired archer greeted her and nodded at something she said before returning to class. A moment later, the Blue Lion leader came outside of his classroom and they talked, his face growing redder and redder as he began to talk, most probably trying to make an excuse or trying to lie about the origin of the anemones. 

They were too far for the Golden Deer House to hear them but Hilda helped out in summarizing what has happened just that morning so they all had an idea of what was happening. 

Claude knew most of his classmates were converted to their cause when they saw Dimitri’s bright smile over something the older woman had said.

He would admit that smile alone could start and end a war, that’s for sure.

And so began the Golden Deer’s secret mission, led by both Claude von Riegan and Hilda Valentine Goneril.

Claude, for all his scheming and secret, was a terrible matchmaker though. He was so obvious of what he was doing, it was adorable (according to Hilda), ridiculous (according to Lorenz) and nice (according to Marianne). After the Anemone Bouquet incident (as their class liked to call it), Claude and most of the Golden Deer students started to make small acts that would force their professor to talk to the blond-haired prince. This included Claude talking to Teach while leading her to where Dimitri was at the moment (he now always knows where the two lovebirds are thanks to the Golden Deer students who frequently updated him and Hilda) and casually including his fellow House leader to the conversation. They already had a signal for when it would be time for one of his allies to walk towards them and ask Claude to do something or talk to Claude about something that would force him to leave them alone without it being too severe that either (or both) of them have to come with him too. Marianne even started to have dinner with both Dimitri and their Professor which will accidentally be interrupted by either Hilda or one of the other Golden Deers students to ask Marianne for help or assistance in the stables or the cathedral which would need her immediate attention and leave her professor alone with her friend for the rest of the dinner. 

It was all basic but it worked.

However, Claude knew it could be better.

And, if there was one thing about Claude von Riegan that was indisputable, it was the undeniable fact that he was powerful if he gets the entire Golden Deer on his side and he was unstoppable if he gets other houses on his side.

People assumed it had started with Sylvain. Of course, why would they think otherwise? If there was any Blue Lion student that would work with the Golden Deer House leader for any kind of scheme, it would be Sylvain Jose Gautier, the resident Blue Lion troublemaker.

But it wasn’t him. 

Instead, it was the adorable sweet Annette Fantine Dominic that the Riegan heir had gotten to his side who was thrilled at the idea of her future king with the Golden Deer’s professor. With Annette on his side, Mercedes was automatically recruited and Ashe was easily swayed to their cause by preying upon his romantic side. 

Using their adorableness and sweetness to their advantage, his three Blue Lion recruits managed to get most of the Blue Lion house to their cause. 

With the additional support, it became common for both Blue Lion and Golden Deer to have the same training session in the Training Hall ‘accidentally’. While the Blue Lion’s professor focused on the magically inclined students, the Golden Deer’s professor focused on the students preferring weaponry instead of magic. 

Not only did it became a common sight to see the older woman with the Blue Lion leader, discussing about his fellow housemates and making suggestions about their future certification goals, Professor Hanneman’s participation also helped greatly improve the Golden Deer’s proficiency in magic. 

Teach did admit that Professor Manuela had suggested a joint training with the Black Eagle as well but the Training Hall wasn’t big enough to house all students so they would have to rotate the student roster and keep the other students in self-study during that time. She had to refuse the idea as it would be detrimental to her fawns’ growth. Since it was up to Claude to pick the time and day for the training hall (something that he did on purpose while he got Ingrid to do the same for Blue Lion), she left it up to him to coordinate with the Black Eagle leader. 

It… didn’t really go too well.

Edelgard immediately knew the real reason behind the joint training sessions. She wasn’t exactly hostile but she certainly didn’t approve of it, that was for sure. 

When Claude asked jokingly if it was because she had feelings for Dimitri or Teach, she looked at him with disappointment and distrust, which he was used to. 

They never managed to schedule a joint training with the Black Eagle in the end.

The growing relationship between the crown prince of Faerghus and the mysterious bearer of the Crest of Flames was the worst kept secret in the monastery. Claude would like to emphasize that it was not his fault. He couldn’t really control how enthusiastic his comrades-in-arms were. 

Flayn had been a supportive bystander before but she started to actively help out once she became part of Golden Deer House. Most of the time, she kept her brother from interfering. She also seemed to have gotten some of the nuns and monks to support them, even some of the knights. At the very least, Claude knew Alois supported their cause and he'd seen Catherine talking to some students to ask about an update on how the two were doing.

The sudden increase of purple and white anemones in the monastery and the fact that it was being used as a sign of love wasn’t his doing as well. It was also well known that the flower bed of purple and white anemone were off-limits to everyone but the Blue Lion leader and his faithful retainer. Anyone who dared to pick any anemones from that specific flower bed would face the silent wrath of the Blue Lion’s Dedue. The adorable anemone accessories and charms some of the students had in their possession all of a sudden definitely had Hilda’s work written all over it. It didn’t really help that Dimitri continued to give her bouquets of the same purple and white anemones every month or that everybody knew that the older woman would always ask Marianne to cast heal on every bouquet so they would last longer. 

And it was well known by everyone that the usually stoic professor would always have a small smile on her face whenever she received the bouquet from the prince. 

Secretly watching the young prince of Faerghus personally hand the bouquet to the teal-haired professor before class the day after the anemones were in full bloom had become a famous morning treat for a lot of people (especially the Golden Deer and Blue Lion students). Claude even heard that the greenhouse had started importing fertilizers that were magically enhanced to quicken plant growth. It may or may not have been personally funded by a certain royal heir himself.

So, as far as Claude could see, it wasn’t his fault.

Well, okay, he will admit that he might have been the one who pushed Ignatz to create small paintings and sketches of them which they sold to interested buyers. Ignatz needed the extra gold and Claude only took a 10% cut as the one to perform the transaction (Ignatz was too shy to do it himself). Honestly, he didn’t really need the gold but Ignatz was adamant on giving him a share and 10% was the lowest the younger man would allow.

Also, the fact that Cyril bought the painting of Teach as the Goddess giving her divine protection to Dimitri (“Just say that Dimitri’s supposed to be Seiros, I don’t get what’s the big deal about it” “It’s blasphemous, Claude!”) for Rhea of all people was the best payment he could ever have. The way he saw it, the archbishop was pretty much giving them permission to continue their cause. Ignatz almost had a heart attack when Claude told him (because, of course, he followed Cyril to find out the real buyer as the young boy wouldn’t have the gold to buy that specific painting). 

The small but successful short story collaboration between Ignatz and Bernadetta though was all Sylvain’s doing, not his. The profit they got from that was so absurd Claude had to ask Sylvain where the majority of the profit came from because he was pretty sure it wasn’t from the monastery. He wasn’t sure what surprised him more, the fact that the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus apparently knew and loved the idea of a growing love story between their future king and a woman said to be blessed by the Goddess herself or Sylvain actually had the audacity to get the word out to Faerghus by using the paintings and sketches he had purchased from Ignatz using various other Blue Lion students so Claude wouldn’t have any idea of what he had been planning. When he had confronted Sylvain about it, the Gautier heir just shrugged and casually explained that everyone enjoys a good love story. He didn’t say it out loud but Claude understood what he wasn’t saying. 

One of the things that this entire cause had done for Claude was that it gave him a bigger insight on what was happening in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.

Dimitri had been closed off from his people since the tragedy, mainly for his own protection as both the royal court and his uncle feared that he may be targeted next as the last remaining crest bearing Blaiddyd. Not only was this a good love story (he read Bernadetta’s story and he rarely reads romantic stories but it was definitely one of the best he’s read in his own opinion) but it was a way to show the people of Faerghus who Dimitri was and what kind of king he would become.

The funniest thing of all was that Bernadetta’s story was actually pretty spot on Dimitri’s character so Sylvain obviously had a hand in it.

He loved it. Using a short story as propaganda? It was clever and showed that the Gautier heir was more than just a pretty face. 

Man, he wished he could get the red-haired noble to transfer to Golden Deer but his loyalty to his liege was unquestionable. To be fair, Sylvain did transfer after the mock battle but he returned to the Blue Lion House the following week. When Claude had asked what happened, Teach just said that Sylvain told her that he wasn’t the type of man to get in between a blooming relationship and said Dimitri needed his help more. She didn’t really understand it that much but Claude did. 

Because, while it cannot be denied that both Dimitri and Teach were smart people, they were also so dumb about the other’s feelings that it felt like everyone was watching the slowest most frustrating love story ever created. That was the main reason why Claude and Hilda had to step in. If they just let everything play out naturally, they’d be lucky if the two of them realize they love each other five years from now. 

Also, because of everybody’s investment to the love story between the crown prince and the new professor, it became easy for Claude to slip in and out of different places without being noticed and to get information from any of his fellow comrades, both students and members of the church. Hilda was wrong, he was helping the love story move along at a faster pace out of the goodness of his heart. The fact that this was also going to help him achieve his dream at the end was just part of the bigger picture. 

They… actually had no plans for the month of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Everyone was just so busy preparing for the three-way mock battle that there was really no time to plan something extravagant for that month. Ignatz even had to stop painting and sketching for the monastery to focus on his Assassin certification. All three houses wanted to win. Claude suggested they ally with the Blue Lion House to take out the Black Eagle House before engaging each other but Teach had denied his suggestion, reasoning that Dimitri was too honorable to agree to such tactics. They didn’t want to wait for the Black Eagle and Blue Lion to finish fighting then pick off the survivors as they wanted a complete victory. That meant they would have to get the highest takedowns in the battle itself. 

Both of them spent hours trying to come up with a plan they would be both satisfied with. It was the most fun Claude had since he could remember. It made him realize that the entire time he had been trying to get her close to Dimitri, he had unintentionally become close to her and Dimitri as well. He even knew how they both liked their tea (lots of milk for her, no sugar or milk for him). That was… surprising…

So when they finally had a plan they were both satisfied with and were about to get a late dinner together, he wasn’t surprised that Dimitri had been waiting for her by the entrance of the Dining Hall. What had surprised him was Dimitri’s offer for him to join them as well which she supported with a smile. He agreed because he actually did want to spend time with them as well. It was one of the most fun meal times he had ever had in Fodlan. 

He would later see the two of them fishing by the docks even after the fishing tournament was over. It was adorable watching them act like an old married couple.

And this entire thing was even before they were officially together which Claude still found hilarious.

They still kicked Dimitri’s ass in the Battle of Eagle and Lion though but it was a close call. The Black Eagle House was also a force to be reckoned with and it was obvious that they had been training hard for this battle. The shared training between the two houses helped them overwhelm the Black Eagle House without an official alliance. It was just normal to see Felix and Hilda watch each other’s back in the front line while Lysithea and Annette provided magical backup from a safe distance. Mercedes and Marianne took turns healing units from either Blue Lion House or Golden Deer House while Dedue kept them safe and Raphael got everyone’s focus on him instead so Ashe, Ignatz and Leonie could hail a rain of arrows on them. The shared training between the two houses also made it so much harder to gain an upper hand against the Blue Lion House once the Black Eagle House had all yielded. Since Felix and Hilda knew each other’s moves, they were pretty much in a standstill. Mercedes and Marianne were too busy trying to keep one another from healing anyone that they couldn’t heal their own teammates. Everyone had to stay far away from the center where Lysithea and Annette were having an explosive magical duel. The acrobatic feats Sylvain’s and Lorenz’s horses were doing as their masters engage in combat was both entertaining to watch and a bit silly. In the end, everyone had to yield except him, Teach, Dimitri and Ingrid. Ingrid kept him busy so that left Dimitri and her to duel just like their last mock battle. 

He and Ingrid had to stop when they saw the older woman pin the prince to the ground, straddling him dangerously close to his hips as the tip of her steel sword kiss Dimitri’s neck while both of them were breathing heavily.

He was pretty sure everyone still in the field could feel the sexual tension in the air. Man, he was pretty sure the sexual tension could be felt all the way from where the archbishop was watching this entire thing.

It was official. They had thrown subtlety out the window. 

Once he heard Dimitri yield, he shot an arrow at the distracted (and blushing) Ingrid, ending the battle with the Golden Deer’s win. 

The celebratory meal afterward was a night to remember. With the Black Eagle House joining the festivity, it seemed like all the barriers separating the three factions of Fodlan finally came crashing down, even for just one night. Even Edelgard had joined in the celebration, sitting in Dorothea’s table which included Ingrid and Hilda. It was a taste of what could happen if Claude’s dreams come into fruition. 

He had spent most of the night in the same table as Dimitri and Teach, mainly watching and joking around with the people who came over to congratulate them for their victory (and, most of the time, praise Dimitri as well). He couldn’t help but grin when he noticed that the young prince was beaming with pride every time someone congratulated or praised the woman between the two house leaders. 

Claude just had to leave the table for a bit to complain to Hilda about the proud husband in his table. Ingrid almost choked on her food while both Dorothea and Hilda cooed as they watched Claude’s table as another student (it was Ferdinand) praise the Golden Deer’s professor while the young man next to her beam with pride. Even Edelgard chuckled which Claude counted as a win. 

Later on, he would find himself in a state of pure bliss after eating a huge amount of food and grinning when he saw both Teach and Dimitri smiling at him. 

The annual ball wasn’t exactly his scene. He still had nightmares of the day Teach approached him to become the Golden Deer’s representative for the White Heron Cup. He was just happy that he had managed to win against Dorothea (big, big surprise there) and Felix (also a big surprise but for a whole other reason). 

According to one of his adorable cub-comrade (it was Annette), the whole class decided on just drawing a piece of paper from a random small box they found and Professor Hanneman accepted it for some reason. Felix was the unfortunate soul who managed to draw the unique “LOSER” paper from the box (“It was supposed to say ‘representative’ but Felix was the one who wrote it! If you ask me, serves him right!”). He was pretty sure that was the day that they heard a huge uproar in the middle of a lecture from the Blue Lion classroom. Teach had to walk over the class to ask what was happening.

And, of course, being the curious fawns that they were, the entire Golden Deer class listened in from the safety of their classroom, even Lorenz who pretended to be there so he could stop Hilda and Claude but no one bought that at all. 

Dimitri had been the one to talk to the Golden Deer professor just outside the door leading to the Blue Lion classroom and the blue cubs would most definitely not pass their Assassin certification because they suck (adorably though) at being stealthy in eavesdropping. 

His fellow House leader had spent the entire time apologizing for their behavior, his cheeks an adorable shade of pink that made almost all of the girls in the Golden Deer House coo. And when the ex-mercenary place a hand on his forearm, oh man, both classes erupted in squeals. Ignatz even started quickly sketching the entire scene. They later reaped a profit selling the final painting to a very happy customer who shall remain anonymous… it was Sylvain. Of all people they thought would be interested in a painting of the two outside the classroom with only Dimitri’s adorable bright smile being shown, they absolutely did not expect Sylvain to buy it. 

Claude will later find out that the red-haired noble had sent the painting to Felix’s father who, apparently, was also heavily invested in this love story.

What Claude was trying to say was that he liked dancing but formal dancing like the one the White Heron Cup required and the dancing being used right now was not his thing. However, tonight was a perfect time to further develop their love story. His fawns and the cubs were in complete agreement over this. That was how Hilda had managed to get their professor to dress up nicely for the occasion. The ex-mercenary could have easily escaped had Hilda been alone but Mercedes, Annette, and Marianne were there as her back-up. While the professor had been distracted by the four women in front of her, she didn’t notice Raphael behind her (he had apparently been taking lessons from Shamir) and the bigger man had been able to bear hug her from behind. 

Hilda wanted to go all out but she relented when Sylvain had reasoned that, if she did go all out, Dimitri would go catatonic. The image would have been funny but that would have definitely been detrimental to their end goal. As such, Hilda had procured a simple but beautiful light blue evening dress with a halter top for their professor. Mercedes and Annette provided accessories which included a simple yellow pendant and the three of them worked together on their professor’s makeup while Marianne braided her hair that they decorated with freshly picked white and purple anemones (courtesy of Dedue). 

His comrades were not subtle at all. 

He loved it.

Because of this, the professor had been late and Dimitri had to dance with someone from his class first. That was fine, Claude was good with improvising. Teach arrived towards the end of the first dance together with the four women and Raphael who immediately went for the buffet. Everyone stared at the Golden Deer professor and Claude even noticed some of them had their jaw slacked at her surprising attire. 

The four women flanked her, glaring at anyone who dared try to approach her with a wicked smile (except Marianne who just stared at them while keeping her head down which was actually scarier), and Claude met them at the middle. He grabbed her hand and winked at them all, dragging her to the dance floor just as the music ends. He dragged her until they were right in front of Dimitri, who blinked at Claude before his eyes widened as he saw the beautiful woman next to the Golden Deer leader. 

Everybody else had stopped to stare at them. 

The dark-haired young man cleared his throat before bowing at the blond-haired young man as he proclaimed, “Prince Dimitri, may I present to you the beautiful Byleth Eisner of the Golden Deer House?”

“Claude, what are you-”

He didn’t let his professor finish her question, taking the frozen prince’s hand and placing her hand on top of his. He grinned at them as he nonchalantly said, “A beautiful night perfect for a first dance, right?”

He winked at Dimitri who blushed before he stepped away from the adorable couple, noticing that Teach was also blushing slightly now. He turned towards the musicians, saw Lorenz already next to one of them and nodded at his fellow fawn. Lorenz sighed and shook his head before whispering something to the one closest to him who nodded. The musician turned towards his fellow musician and whispered something. They readied their instruments before finally starting the next piece.

Which was a very romantic slow song.

Claude wanted to laugh at such obviousness but he refrained, instead he bowed at the young woman Dimitri had been dancing before and asked, “May I have this dance, milady?”

“Huh?” The young woman had been focused at the two blushing couple next to them that it took a moment for her to realize that the Golden Deer leader was speaking to her. She blushed and nodded, “O-of course, it would be my pleasure, Lord Riegan.”

Claude didn’t bother to correct the title and simply used his knowledge from the White Heron Cup to dance with the young woman since he felt bad that she was immediately pushed aside. He apparently shouldn’t have felt bad as the young woman in his arms sighed dreamily at whatever was behind him. He glanced and grinned when he noticed that Teach and Dimitri were dancing behind him, their eyes focused at each other with a soft smile on both their faces. He turned back towards his dancing partner as she said softly, “I’ve never seen His Highness so happy before.”

His dancing partner gave him a grateful smile as she whispered, “Thank you, Lord Riegan.”

When the music ended, the last part of tonight’s plan was already on the way. Anyone who tried to even get close to Dimitri and the Golden Deer’s professor was immediately asked to dance by one of Claude’s accomplices. Even the Blue Lion student he had danced with had joined the fray, asking a Black Eagle student who was about to approach their professor for a dance. 

He should probably get her name since she was a fellow comrade.

… Then he saw that almost all of the Blue Lion students were intercepting the hopeful interlopers and realized that he would have to remember all the names of his house and the Blue Lion house at this rate. 

A sacrifice he would gladly make as the two houses joined forces to ensure that both the Golden Deer’s professor and the Blue Lion’s leader remained in the dance floor while keeping away anyone who would dare ask for a dance. 

Unable to leave the dance floor as the next piece started, the couple was forced to dance together once more.

Well, with the sweet smiles they were sporting, Claude was sure it wasn’t much of a burden to either of them. 

Their plan worked without any problems. They had to intercept Edelgard thrice and Claude wondered if she wanted to dance with Teach or Dimitri. Probably both. 

Claude would totally understand if it was both.

It was pretty funny watching Sylvain flirt with Edelgard too. The third time, it was surprisingly Dorothea who had asked for Edelgard’s hand and the dark-haired heir wondered if he could recruit a few memorable Black Eagle students to their cause.

Flayn was in charge of intercepting her brother who either wanted to dance with the professor or was going to try and break them apart. Probably the latter considering the throbbing vein on his forehead. Claude was surprised that didn’t burst by the sixth piece. 

The most surprising person they had to intercept was the archbishop herself. What was even more surprising was the one who intercepted her and danced with the most powerful person in the church was none other than the Blade Breaker himself. His eyes caught the eyes of his professor’s father who nodded at him. 

Well, good to know they had her dad’s blessing. 

After the seventh piece, both the prince and his dance partner left the hall, probably thinking they were being sneaky.

They were not.

He and his favorite pink-haired partner-in-crime high-fived right on the dance floor.

A few people passed gold on the ones who won the bet on when they were going to sneak off. 

A lot of the Blue Lion students seemed to be giving gold to Dedue and Mercedes which made Claude wonder if there was a conspiracy going on.

All and all, Claude would consider it a huge success.

Then he saw the archbishop leave the hall as well. 

And his interest was piqued.

He would just like to make it clear that, no matter what Lorenz and Hilda may say, it really was by accident that he eavesdropped on them while they were in the Goddess Tower. In his defense, he had been tailing Rhea, not them, but he lost the archbishop in the Goddess Tower and accidentally saw the two instead. He hid as soon as he heard Dimitri’s voice and would have happily left but then Dimitri just had to say, “Once I graduate, would it be possible for you to accompany me back to Fhirdiad?”

Oh, man.

Oh, sweet merciful gods of Almyra.

There was no way he wasn’t going to stay now.

He needed to know how this would go!

Also, Claude tipped his imaginary hat to his fellow House leader. For all their jokes of the poor prince being a bit too slow, when he attacks, he really goes in for the kill.

This honestly sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.

And Claude loved watching disasters happen.

He made a mental promise to help Dimitri pick up the pieces and try again after this blows up in his face.

“I…” Claude couldn’t see them and he didn’t want to risk being found during such a critical event so he focused on listening in. Her voice was softer than he ever heard and his eyes widened when he heard her answer, “I would love to, Dimitri.”

No. Freaking. Way.

“Y-you do?” Dimitri’s surprised tone was a direct reflection of Claude’s current feelings. Teach probably nodded because the young man said next, “O-o-oh. I-I-I’m so happy I don’t know what to say.”

“I promise you I will make you happy, Prof- no…” Claude wasn’t the one Dimitri was talking to with a soft voice filled with love but his heart still skipped a beat when he heard the prince whisper, “My beloved.”

This was it.

This was the day Claude von Riegan would die of fluff.

And it would be a happy death. 

He did not die of fluff.

Actually, he pretty much had to run as quietly and quickly as possible because he heard them kissing and, as much as he was invested in their love story, he wanted to give them some kind of privacy. 

… Which was how he had become infamous the following day for being the nosy annoying pest who stopped couples from going to the Goddess Tower. 

Ah, the things he does to protect his two idiots in love.

Surprisingly enough, nothing actually changed the day after the Goddess Tower incident. He kept it a secret from everyone else because it felt wrong to tell someone (even if it was Hilda) and no one would probably believe him anyway. It wasn’t long until they had to do their monthly mission too but Claude did see her and Dimitri say their goodbyes by the reception hall’s short hallway leading to the training hall. There was no kiss (how disappointing) but they did held hands the entire time they were talking. He couldn’t hear them properly from where he was and it would be too risky to get closer so he just left them be. When Ignatz came rushing towards their designated meeting spot ten minutes early (he was getting better since, last month, the poor young man went to their meeting spot thirty minutes early), Claude made sure to greet him cheerfully (and loudly), immediately teasing him for being so early. Their professor walked towards them a minute later and her eyes met his. She didn’t say anything but her nod was full of gratitude which he just winked at.

The death of Jeralt hit everyone hard. He couldn’t help but think that he could have done something. He should have been able to do something. He felt something was off about the other girl they rescued together with Flayn but he had put it behind his mind as another strange Fodlan thing he hasn’t quite deciphered yet. He should have pressed harder once he heard Hilda also had the same feeling as him about that red-haired girl. 

Maybe if he had spied on her, observed her for a while longer, maybe Jeralt… 

This was no time to wallow in ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’. It didn’t change the fact that her father was dead and no one has seen her for the entire day. He was worried about her. So, after making sure Hilda and the rest of the Golden Deer would stay to support Leonie, he went and looked for her. She wasn’t in her assigned room so he decided to check her father’s office. When he got to the door leading to the Blade Breaker’s office, he heard Dimitri’s soft voice coming from inside, “Stay here until you’ve found some peace. I’ll cover for you with Lady Rhea and everyone else.”

Claude leaned back at the wall next to the door and turned the doorknob slowly so it won’t make a sound as he heard the prince continue to speak softly, “I am sure Claude would understand if I explain it to him as well.” 

He barely heard her soft reply of “Thank you.” as he pulled the door open slightly so he could see inside.

The two of them were standing in the middle of the room, just inches away from one another.

“We’ll be waiting for you whenever you’re ready to return to us.” Dimitri gently took her hand as he continued, “I don’t believe it’s a sign of strength to just keep moving forward no matter what.”

He closed his eyes as he said, “Taking the time to grieve for those we’ve lost… there’s strength in that too. That’s what I think, anyway.”

Claude crossed his arms and rested his head against the wall behind him. He guessed he was lucky that Dimitri beat him to it. He probably wouldn’t know what to say to her had he been in the prince’s place. He never lost a parent so he couldn’t exactly relate and might even say something insensitive like telling her to stop wallowing in her grief and keep moving forward. Sure, it was a valid opinion but sometimes people do need time to grieve. 

And it seemed like Teach was one of those people. 

“That said…” Dimitri’s other hand gently caressed her cheek as he added, “It’s also important to remember that no matter how sad you are, eventually your tears will dry up.”

Claude could hear the pain and sorrow in the blond-haired young man’s voice and knew that he was speaking from experience. 

The hand caressing her cheek dropped and took her other hand as Dimitri’s voice became clearer, more determined, “That’s when you have to figure out what it is you’re living for. Then you can cling to that, with all your might, and start moving forward again.”

“What I’m living for?” She repeated softly, almost in a dazed tone.

As Dimitri explained what happened to him four years ago, Claude wondered if he should leave. This entire conversation was informative, yes, but it was also too personal. He might like knowing everything that may help him later on but he still felt bad about eavesdropping over an obviously private conversation between two of the closest friends he had.

Then he heard the rage in Dimitri’s voice as he declared, “That’s my duty, as the sole survivor of the tragedy.” 

His next words were still soft but Claude could still hear the hidden rage in his voice as he explained how that duty had been the push he needed to move forward. From the way she was looking at Dimitri, Claude knew that she could hear it too. 

“Jeralt is gone…” The softness in his voice did not weaken the finality of his words. He stared at her with clear gentle blue eyes, holding onto her hands as if to make sure she wouldn’t float away as he asked, “So what will you do now, my beloved? What must you do?” 

He rested his forehead against hers as he closed his eyes, placing her hands on his chest so she could feel his heartbeat, “Look deep in your heart and I’m certain you’ll find the answer there… indelible and inescapable.”

They stared at each other’s eyes silently for a few moments before Dimitri took a step back, letting go of both her hands as he said, “I’ve probably bothered you enough for today, but I have just one more thought to leave you with.”

His eyes hardened as he informed her, “Even now, Seteth is gathering the knight to begin a full-scale search for the enemy.”

A full-scale search?

Even if it was a high ranking official that was killed, it seemed a bit too risky to send all the knights to look for the killer. It would leave the monastery’s defenses severely compromised.

This didn’t sound like Seteth at all.

If Claude was perfectly honest, this sounded more like Rhea’s orders. This past year, he had seen how easily swayed by her emotions the archbishop was, mostly seen by how she acted when she perceived the Goddess had been slighted. She also lost a bit of her composure when Flayn had been kidnapped, going outside without any guards to help with the search of all things. She had accepted Jeralt’s return even after it was clear that he left his post years ago and took in his daughter as a professor with only Alois’ recommendation to back her skills up. It stood to reason that Rhea and Jeralt would have been close. She may look as calm and composed as she usually was towards the others but this reckless mission shows how shaken up she was by Jeralt’s death. 

But… how close was she to the mysterious captain of the knights?

He was so focused on his thoughts about the secretive archbishop he almost didn’t hear Dimitri’s declaration, “No matter what happens or what anyone may say, know that I plan to stand by you, my beloved. Through anything. Until the bitter end.” 

It would have been a sweet declaration had Claude not hear the rage that Dimitri was hiding.

It was a bit disconcerting. He had never heard such anger from the usually polite prince. 

It worried Claude.

Almost as much as when he realized that Dimitri was leaving the room. He had to quickly close the door so neither of them would have an idea that someone had been listening in.

Then he heard something slammed against the door.

Claude almost opened it to make sure everything was okay when he heard her voice say, “Stay.”

The dark-haired young man pressed his left ear against the door just to hear her next words, “Stay with me, Dimitri. I… I…”

Claude heard her gasp before he heard a moan. 

He heard heavy breathing as- Aaanndd those were sounds of clothes and armor- 

No way. 

Yup.

They were definitely…

Claude stepped away from the door and briskly walked away from the hallway. He stopped by the top of the stairs, rubbed his head and sighed. 

He walked back to the hallway and checked all the other rooms, ignoring the office… they were currently occupying.

The library was strangely empty but he’ll count that as a win for now, taking a random book from the table nearest to him. All the other rooms were empty as well so he returned to the entrance leading to the hallway. He sat on the floor, leaning back against the wall next to the hallway and opened the book he took from the library.

It was a book about the final battle against Nemesis. He started to read, pausing whenever someone would try to enter the hallway. He would ask them to leave, for now, playing the whole “Please give the professor some time to grieve for now” card to anyone trying to enter the hallway. They were all affected by Jeralt’s death that they easily accepted Claude’s request, not questioning why the entire hallway was cut off at all. He thought he’d have to work harder when it was Seteth who was trying to enter the hallway but he seemed to understand and sounded so sad as he agreed with Claude’s request. Dedue also came by, obviously looking for his liege, and Claude explained the actual situation with him as delicately as he could (“Dimitri’s with Teach right now… doing… things…”). The older man seemed to have understood and left without a single word. Claude was sure that the quiet Blue Lion student would have liked to stand guard like Claude but that would definitely raise questions that they didn’t want to be asked. He was slightly surprised when Dedue returned a few minutes later, giving him a basket filled with sweet breads, still steaming hot, silently and bowing before leaving again without even saying a single word. There was a letter on top of the bread in the middle which he took. It was from Annette. It said she and Mercedes had baked these and hoped Claude would like it. Claude’s lips curved into a smile and he took one roll of sweet bread, eating it as he continued to read about the ten elites.

He was in the middle of reading about the hero Blaiddyd (who apparently was riding a griffon according to some people? So griffons were an actual thing now?) when he heard a door open from the hallway. He quickly closed the book, stood from his post as he grabbed the almost empty basket and ran towards the stairs. 

There was no need to embarrass the two of them. This was just another secret Claude would keep to himself. 

The next day, he tried going back to Jeralt’s office (to look around for clues about what the church was hiding, not because he was curious about the state of it after yesterday’s activities, of course) and was mildly surprised to see her back inside the room.

He hoped she and Dimitri wasn’t planning on using this office as their ‘secret meeting place’ now because that would just be- 

Hm?

That book she was reading…

“So what’re you reading?” Claude couldn’t help but ask, making her turn towards him. She silently showed him the book and he stared at her.

She looked… better, Claude supposed. There was life back in her eyes that was painfully missing yesterday and an almost rosy complexion on her face.

Claude almost wanted to tease about how good Dimitri was yesterday but that would mean outing that he knew what happened and he didn’t really want to have that conversation with her. 

Not yet, anyway. Later on, once enough time has passed, he will be teasing both of them mercilessly about it. Especially Dimitri… most especially Dimitri.

And his curiosity forced him to lower his eyes to stare at the book in her hand. He read a bit of the handwritten sentences in one of the pages and realized, “Is that Jeralt’s…”

“Diary.” She replied with a nod, closing the book but keeping it outstretched towards her student.

“So it is.” Claude nodded, eyes trained at the book in her hands. He raised his head to stare at her. She raised an eyebrow, pushing the book towards him silently. He realized that she was silently giving him permission to take it so he took it gently. He opened the book at a random page as he mused out loud, “Hey, maybe this has some entries from when Jeralt left the monastery.”

He flipped the page as he heard her agree, “It does.”

“Is that so…” Claude hummed lightly, flipping another page as he continued to muse out loud while actually reading some of the entries, “He was the captain of the knights, but something made him leave the monastery in a hurry.”

He furrowed his brows for a moment before raising his head to stare at her, “If it has something to do with your birth, knowing what happened may get us closer to knowing what secrets the church is hiding…”

He closed the book and gave it back to her. She seemed surprised by his action as she took it back but he knew that he had to return it before he could ask what he was planning on asking. He stared at her with determination shining in his eyes. He knew he would sound callous and insensitive to her current situation but he had to ask, “Teach… Would you mind letting me read that diary?” 

He tried to mimic the way he saw a few of the nobles would bow as he said seriously, “I know how important it is to you, but I’m not asking lightly. Please, allow me to borrow it.”

She handed the book back at him which actually surprised him. She gave him a small smile as she said, “You may borrow it.”

“I’m forever in your debt, Teach.” He took the book from her and grinned as he added only half-jokingly, “If you’d refused, I would’ve had to sneak in here in the dead of night. I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect.”

Her face turned into that expression everyone in the Golden Deer had declared as her “Claude-I-know-you-say-you’re-not-planning-on-doing-it-but-I-know-you-are-and-I’m-disappointed” face which made him chuckle before he said casually, “Anyhow, let me fill you in on what’s been going on lately, and not just as thanks for pointing me to that diary.”

Her face became stoic once more, a chilling reminder of how she had first looked when they met back in Remire village, as he informed her, “Rhea dispatched the knights to various locations in a frantic search for the enemy.”

This further solidify his theory that it was Rhea’s orders, not Seteth's, that the knights be mobilized and leave the monastery’s defenses compromised.

“There’s a rumor that she’s already secured some information. Something big is gonna happen soon.” He tilted his head to get a better look on her face as he asked, “That has me wondering… If you find out where the enemy is, what will you do about it?”

“If you ask, I…” Claude paused, shaking his head and giving her a soft smile as he corrected, “No, scratch that. All of us students would gladly lend a hand.”

Not just the Golden Deer students but the Blue Lion students too.

He was sure of it.

“Even if that means going against Rhea’s wishes. Don’t forget it.” 

She stared at him silently for a moment before closing her eyes and saying softly, “Thank you, Claude.”

Her student rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Sure thing, Teach.”

He waited for her to open her eyes and gave a soft smile as he asked, remembering Dimitri’s words to her yesterday, “Think you can see everyone for at least a bit? Everyone’s worried about you.”

She nodded solemnly and said, “Yes. I… I think I can move forward now, even just for a little bit.”

“That’s great, Teach.” He said, smiling at her, “Then you’d better show them you’re in good spirits.”

He almost made a jab about yesterday’s events but managed to stop himself in time.

He was growing up, he supposed. 

Things with Monica (or Kronya, as she wanted to be called) could have gone better. He had sent word to one of the other Golden Deer students to inform the Blue Lion House about what they’ve learned but Teach wanted to go as soon as possible. Then Rhea tried to stop them and they couldn’t wait anymore.

They rushed towards the Sealed Forest and she led them into battle against the strange faction who seemed to be working for the Flame Emperor. 

Then she saw Kronya.

Claude barely saw her run ahead, leaving their defensive line, as she charged Kronya. The Sword of Creator sang as its detached blades flew towards the pale woman. She barely dodged the initial swipe but the Sword of Creator was relentless, a dark red glow enveloping its entire form as the angry grieving woman continually whipped it towards her father’s killer. 

From the south, Claude heard someone call his name, “Claude!”

Claude turned around and smiled at the reinforcements, “Dimitri! You don’t know how happy I am to see you guys.”

Dimitri rushed towards his side while the other Blue Lion students immediately entered the fray. Even without any instructions, they paired up the same way they do during their shared training sessions and began pushing back the relentless attack of their enemies. Dimitri glared at the enemies in front of them as he asked, “Where is she?”

Claude turned to look back at where the Golden Deer’s professor was fighting Kronya and pointed at them. They had turned their attention back at the duel just in time to see the Sword of Creator pierce her enemy’s arm. The pale woman screamed, throwing one of her weapons at her opponent. The teal-haired woman dodged the throw and Kronya used that time to turn around and run towards the forest. 

She immediately ran after her and Claude shouted, “Teach, no!”

Claude didn’t even have time to react as Dimitri ran after them, shouting, “Claude is in charge!”

“Yes, Your Highness!” Most of the Blue Lion students replied except Felix who growled as he parried the lance aimed at Hilda.

Hilda slammed her axe on the paladin’s chest immediately while Felix hissed, “That stupid boar!”

Claude could only sigh, rubbing the back of his head. He turned towards the combined units of his Golden Deer and their Blue Lion reinforcement as he said, “Alright, everyone. Let’s make this quick so we can back up our two stupid lovebirds!”

Some of them chuckled while Lorenz shook his head as he sighed. Claude grinned as he continued, “Alright, let’s take them all down! Lysithea, aim your Dark Spike at the mounted units to our left! Felix, Hilda, keep them busy and advance once all of them are down! Annette, guard Lysithea from any units that gets passed Hilda and Felix and heal anyone if necessary! Ashe, they’re guarding something to our far left, take Raph and Marianne with you and find out what it is! After that, provide backup to Felix and Hilda! Ingrid, I need you to scout the area to our right! Take Flayn with you as backup! Lorenz, Sylvain, take down the units to our right! Leonie, Ignatz, cover them! Mercedes, follow behind Leonie and provide support! Dedue, keep Mercedes safe! Keep advancing until we get to that destroyed building after the forest!”

Everyone shouted their agreement to the plan and they all began to move. Claude stayed at the center and watched both sides’ status. Once Ashe and his team joined Hilda’s team, he ran to support Leonie and Ignatz. 

They reached the destroyed building in time to hear Dimitri’s scream, “BYLETH!”

They could only watch in horror as a dark mist covered her while Dimitri ran towards her with his hand outstretched. She raised her hand towards the prince and their fingers touched before the dark mist swirled violently before disappearing upwards together with the teal-haired woman. Dimitri fell on his knees at where she had been standing while the pale man that had been impersonating Tomas said, “Begone with you, Fell Star.”

Hilda was the first to react, “Wha-what was that? Where did you go, Professor?” 

“They were swallowed by the mystical darkness of the forbidden spell.” The man named Solon explained as he turned towards Hilda, “An eternity wandering in a void of nothingness, never to return to this world…”

He shook his head as he mused, “To think we almost had the Sword of the Creator…”

“That’s a lie!” Annette shouted, “There’s no way the professor is really dead!”

“That’s right! Our professor is no ordinary human!” Flayn added, glaring at Solon from atop her pegasus.

“I refuse to believe that Teach would die in a place like this!” Claude shouted as he glared at Solon.

“It is possible that death has yet to find your friend.” The pale old man conceded before adding ominously, “But there are worse things than death.”

"Drifting through the darkness with no chance of escape… Overwhelmed with hopelessness…” He chuckled as he said maliciously, “It must be torturous.”

“Silence!” Dimitri stood and gripped his silver lance tightly as he glared at Solon, “I will find her and I will get her back.” 

His eyes shone with manic anger as he growled, “But before that, I will slice you into a thousand pieces as you watch with horror! You will know true pain before I finally allow you to die! I will make you regret ever daring to raise a hand against her!”

Solon shook his head as he said, “How trite. But if you wish for pain, I shall oblige.”

He raised his hand towards Dimitri as he declared, “If you prefer it so, you shall also be added to the ranks of the dead!”

“It shall be you who will be added to the ranks of the dead, you fiend!” The prince screamed as he charged Solon. 

Claude nocked an arrow and aimed it at the old man as he ordered, “Support Dimitri!”

Before he could fire, Dedue pulled him back using his yellow cape. A javelin was thrown to where he had been standing and Claude watched from behind Dedue’s shield as Solon’s reinforcements suddenly appeared from various pillars of purple light, surrounding them. 

Including crest beasts.

They’ll get pinned down by the reinforcements’ pincer attack.

“Fall back to the forest!” Claude ordered and everyone started backing towards the forest as they kept their guard up.

“Your Highness!” Dedue shouted.

Except Dimitri who was dueling Solon all by himself. 

“Dammit, Dimitri!” Claude shouted as Raphael and Sylvain stopped Dedue from rushing towards them, “Fall back!”

Dimitri didn’t seem to hear him as he dodged a ball of dark magic from Solon before throwing his lance at the old man.

The old man erected a barrier of dark magic that bounced the lance, his eyes widening when he saw Dimitri immediately in front of him, using his own weapon as a distraction so he could get close. Dimitri grabbed the fallen lance and thrust right in the middle of the barrier as his crest of Blaiddyd screamed in his blood.

The lance cracked under his grip but the blade started to pierce through Solon’s barrier. As the barrier cracked all around him, Solon hummed, “You have been blessed by Blaiddyd’s might, wolf-child. Such a shame you’ve become the lapdog of that Fell Star.”

“I will show you the rage of a winter wolf.” Dimitri growled as he pushed his lance through the barrier, making it crack against his inhuman strength, “I will rip you apart, limb from limb, and present your head to her!” 

As Solon’s barrier shattered, Dimitri pushed his lance to pierce the pale old man’s chest but Solon was quicker, blasting Dimitri away with a burst of dark magic. Dimitri fell on the ground a few feet away from his opponent as his lance shattered, unable to withstand both his crest and the blast of dark magic.

“Dimitri!” Claude shouted, aiming at Solon but a crest beast rushed towards him, forcing him to dodge instead.

Dimitri slowly got up while Solon walked towards him. The old man raised his hand towards the kneeling prince when they all heard a crack. 

Both of them stopped, turning to the origin of the sound.

The sky cracked in front of them and the Sword of Creator pierced through the crack, slicing the sky itself. The sky shattered and the woman Solon called the Fell Star fell from the other side of the crack, landing on the ground on her knees.

“So the Fell Star consumes even darkness itself.” Solon murmured. 

Her hair had turned a green color lighter than anyone they have ever seen, lighter than the archbishop herself. 

She stood and glared at Solon with light green eyes, the Sword of Creator glowing in her hands. Solon took a step back but cried out as Dimitri used a shard of his broken lance to impale his foot. The Sword of Creator sang as its blade detached, severing Solon’s head with one clean slice. A feral smile appeared on the prince’s face as the head rolled away from him. He raised his head as his beloved offered her hand towards him, his smile turning soft as he whispered, “I am glad you are safe.” 

He took her hand and let her pull him to his feet as he whispered, “I was sure you would return, my beloved.”

They turned towards their stunned allies and Claude smiled at them.

“Teach… You are Teach, right?” Claude asked, relief in his voice as he said, “I always believed in you… I knew you could cut your way out of anything.”

He glared at the remaining enemies and said, “Let’s go clean this up then we can reflect on what happened.”

She nodded at her student before turning towards Dimitri to ask, “Can you still fight?”

“For you, my beloved, yes.” Dimitri replied solemnly as he nodded at her, “Even if I have to use my hands to rip them apart.”

“Please don’t, your highness.” Sylvain said with a sigh, throwing his spare steel lance at his liege.

Dimitri caught the lance and nodded at his childhood friend, “Thank you, Sylvain.”

Claude twirled an arrow in his hand as he asked with a grin, “Well then, what are your orders, Teach?”

She turned to face everyone as she said, “We’ll take them all down. We won’t let a single one escape.”

With that declaration, she turned to face the reinforcements and their battle continued.

With the wielder of the Sword of Creator on their side, the reinforcements and the crest beasts fell under the combined might of both the Golden Deer and the Blue Lion.

While most of their units checked the area for any survivors or fleeing enemies, Claude approached the now mint-haired professor who was standing very close to a quite frankly heavily battered Dimitri, both their hands intertwined with one another.

“Teach! Dimitri! We won!” He said cheerfully, grinning at both of them. His lips curved into a small smile as he admitted, “I’ll be honest, when I lost sight of you, I broke into a cold sweat.”

He smiled at Dimitri sardonically as he added, “And I felt like I lost five years of my life when you didn’t fall back and attacked Solon alone, Dimitri.”

She glared at the young prince next to her, displeased by his reckless behavior.

Just as Claude expected.

“I apologize for worrying you, Claude.” Dimitri said with an apologetic smile towards Claude.

The Golden Deer leader waved Dimitri’s apology nonchalantly, knowing his fellow house leader was going to get an earful later, as he casually said, “Well, you’re okay and Jeralt’s killer is dead. All’s well that ends well.”

“That’s true.” She said as she nodded, making Claude and Dimitri stare at her.

“You’re kidding, right?” Claude asked ludicrously. He sighed and shook his head before continuing, “I understood putting it off while we were in battle, but now that it’s over, just go ahead and spit it out.”

She and Dimitri glanced at each other then they both blushed.

Oh, sweet merciful gods of Almyra.

Did they think he was actually asking about their secret relationship?

Right now?

Not to mention, it was a secret relationship that wasn’t really a secret anymore considering how blatantly they were holding hands and being all close to one another right now.

In all honesty, he was surprised they managed to keep it a secret this long.

Claude closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them and clarified, “What I mean to say, Teach, is… That hair. Those eyes. That unfathomable power. What happened back there?” 

“Claude is right.” Dimitri agreed, staring at her, “You look… different.”

She touched her hair and tilted her head towards Dimitri who blushed and immediately added, “O-of course, you are still as beautiful as you were before! If I was to be honest, that hair and those eyes make you appear quite similar to the portrait of the goddess we have back in Castle Blaiddyd! But, of course, you are much more beautifu-”

“Not the time, Dimitri.” Claude rolled his eyes, causing Dimitri to close his mouth.

Normally, he would enjoy listening to Dimitri lose his composure and ramble on about his beloved (in all seriousness, making Dimitri fluster and get him to ramble on about Teach was a favorite pastime of Claude and the other Blue Lions) but now wasn’t the time for that. 

“O-o-oh, right. My apologies.” Dimitri stammered, looking at the ground as he blushed. 

“So, Teach, care to tell us what happened?” Claude asked once more, staring at his professor.

She stared back at him silently for a few seconds then turned to stare at Dimitri next. Dimitri met her stare head on. She closed her eyes and nodded before stepping away from Dimitri so she could face both young men as she started, “The truth is…”

While Claude thought that Fodlan was a strange place, he didn’t expect it to be as strange as the explanation the mint-haired woman was telling them. By the end of her explanation, Claude and Dimitri were staring at her with wide eyes as Claude tried to summarize, unable to hide his ludicrousness at the words escaping his mouth, “Let me see if I get this straight… An entity who claims to be the goddess was living in your mind? And it’s been that way since you were a baby?” 

He furrowed his brows as he continued, “And this goddess entrusted all of her goddess-like power to you and then vanished…”

He and Dimitri glanced at each other before he returned his attention back to the silent mint-haired woman as he admitted, “It’s a difficult story to swallow, Teach. But the way you look now… I guess I’ve got no choice but to believe it.”

Dimitri nodded at Claude’s admission before crossing his left arm and resting his right below against his palm. He placed his right hand on his chin as he confessed, “I must admit I also find all of this hard to grasp.” 

“However…” Dimitri nodded as he stared at her intently and said, “I believe you, my beloved. If you say that the goddess has been with you this entire time then it must be true.”

It took all of Claude’s power to stop himself from grinning at his fellow heir. He so desperately wanted to tease him about how he was acting around her but only kept quiet as Dimitri mused out loud, “But if you now have the goddess’ power and she had disappeared, does that mean…”

Claude’s eyes widened and he turned towards his professor as he asked, “Teach, does that mean you’re the goddess now?” 

Her eyes widened at her student’s question and she furiously shook her head as she said, “Don't even joke about things like that, Claude.”

Dimitri tilted his head and asked curiously, “Why not? I would be more than happy to worship the goddess of the church if it was you.”

Claude watched her blush at Dimitri’s nonchalant admission as she uttered, “Oh, Dimitri.” 

He rolled his eyes at the two as he commented, “Please, you’d worship her even if she wasn’t a goddess.”

“Well, yes, of cour-” Dimitri stopped in mid-word, blushing as he realized what he was saying and they both looked away from Claude, making the dark-haired young man sigh.

He was almost scared to think of what would happen to these two if he wasn’t around.

Most probably they’d just end up flirting at each other and forget about the bigger picture…

“Putting aside your questionable sudden divinity…” Claude started, waiting for both of them to stare at him once more before continuing, “There might be a clue to Jeralt’s diary on why this all happened. If you believe the diary, there’s a high possibility that Rhea did something to you when you were born.”

Claude glanced at Dimitri and blinked when he noticed that the other young man wasn’t surprised by any of his words. He actually looked thoughtful as he mused, “Yes, you would be right about that possibility. At the very least, the archbishop would have an idea on what this would all mean.”

He turned to face the mint-haired woman as he asked, “You told him?”

She tilted her head as she asked back, “I wasn’t supposed to?”

“I wouldn’t say no but…” Claude sighed once more, rubbing his face twice as he thought out loud, “I guess now you two are pretty much a package deal, huh.”

“I guess we now have two main questions we need to find answers to.” Claude continued, raising his index finger as he said, “What in the world happened to you as a baby?”

He raised his middle finger next as he continued, “And what was Rhea after?”

“Maybe she’s the mad witch?” Dimitri suggested, making both of them turn towards him. He seemed surprised by the sudden attention and he said, “Oh, forgive me. It’s a… well, I suppose you can say that it’s a bit of folklore in Faerghus.”

“Folklore?”

“Yes.” Dimitri nodded before he explained, “It’s not part of the teaching of the church and it’s actually a scary story we tell children so they won’t venture outside during cold winter nights. ‘Beware the mad witch for she will stop at nothing to see the goddess once more. She will do anything, not even the coldest winter wind will hinder her and, if you go outside during the night, she might see you and take you away to help her find the goddess.’”

“Okay, that’s quite a scary story, I guess?” Claude tilted his head as he admitted, “But it does sound like a story people tell their kids.”

“Yes, I would agree however…” Dimitri looked thoughtful as he admitted, “They say that, my ancestor, the hero Blaiddyd was the first person who talked about the mad witch. That’s why it’s quite scary for us.”

“The hero…” They turned towards her, their eyes widening as she starts to sway, “Blaiddyd…” 

Her eyes closed and she started to fall, making Claude and Dimitri shout, “Teach!” “Byleth!”

Thankfully, Dimitri managed to catch her before she fell to the ground. Claude quickly stepped towards them, sighing in relief when he saw that she was breathing. He rubbed the back of his head as he commented, “Huh. She’s sleeping. Man, I almost had a heart attack.” 

He watched Dimitri hold her closer as he continued, “This must be an effect of the goddess’ power. Can her body handle the strain?”

Dimitri’s hold on her tightened at those words and he said, “We don’t know that. We must get her back to the monastery and get help.”

He lifted her, keeping one hand on her back while his other hand was under her knees. He turned towards Claude as said, “Claude, take care of everyone. I will go on ahead with Byleth to get her help as soon as possible.”

“Now, wait just a minute, your princeliness.” Claude had to step in front of Dimitri to stop the blond-haired young man from moving. He placed a hand on Dimitri’s chest as he reminded him, “We’re not sure if it’s safe out there. We should stick together. At the very least, we should accompany you so you will at least have people to defend you if you guys get attacked.”

Dimitri nodded solemnly as he said, “Very well. But we must go now.”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time.” Claude turned towards their allies who were near them, “Lorenz! Sylvain!”

Both mounted units turned to look at him and he said, “We’re leaving you two in charge! We need to get Teach back to the monastery as soon as possible! Make sure everyone gets back safely!”

Lorenz raised his head as he said, “A splendid choice, Claude. For once, we are in total agreement.”

Claude rolled his eyes and watched as Sylvain turned to his liege as he asked, “Your Highness?”

Dimitri only nodded at him and the red-haired noble grinned at Claude, “Got it, we’ll keep everyone safe and see you later.”

Claude nodded at them before calling out, “Hilda! Dedue! Marianne!”

The three of them turned to face Claude and he said, “We’ll escort Dimitri back to the monastery. Our priority is to keep him and Teach safe, got it?”

“Do I have to?” Hilda sighed while Dedue and Marianne nodded, “Okay, fine. For our dear Professor.” 

With that said, the five of them began to journey back to the monastery, with Dedue taking point. Dimitri and Claude briskly walked behind him while Hilda and Marianne covered their rear flank. 

Claude watched the determined prince next to him, turning his eyes to stare at the sleeping woman in his arms. 

Then he remembered…

“Hey, Dimitri.” Claude called out as he placed his hands behind his back.

“Yes, Claude?” Dimitri glanced at him before returning his attention back to the road they were walking on.

“I just realized something…” Claude said, staring at the prince.

Noticing that his fellow house leader wasn’t continuing, he tried to prompt him with a questioning “Yes?”

“This goddess was supposed to be with her the entire time, right?” He reminded the blond-haired young man.

“That is what she said, yes.” Dimitri nodded.

“Then does that mean that the goddess could see everything she did.” Claude leaned towards Dimitri as he said in a serious tone, “Everything she did… perhaps in the presence of his princeliness?”

Dimitri’s breath hitched before his cheeks reddened. Claude watched gleefully as the prince’s entire face reddened. 

“Your Highness, are you alright?” Dedue asked worriedly as he turned his head to stare at them, making both Hilda and Marianne stare at him as well.

Claude had to cover his mouth as his fellow house leader stammered in an awfully high voice, “I-I am fine, Dedue! I just- I-”

He turned to face Claude and his eyes widened as he saw Claude’s gleeful grin. 

Then his entire face paled as he realized that Claude knew.

Claude’s grin grew bigger as he asked teasingly, “So Dimitri, how does it feel to know that you have consummated your love in the eyes of your goddess? Should we consider your union to have been blessed by the Goddess of Fodlan?”

A high pitched sound that Claude could only describe as an aborted squeak escaped Dimitri’s lips before he quickly walked away from Claude without saying another word. Claude couldn’t help but laugh out loud as he watched the northern prince run away from him while his loyal retainer tried to catch up to his lord, “Your Highness!”

Hilda walked next to him and raised an eyebrow as she asked, “What was that about, Claude?”

Her dark-haired friend snorted and covered his mouth as he tried to regain his composure. Once he felt he could answer his pink-haired partner-in-crime without laughing in the middle of his words, he said, “I guess you could say Dimitri realized that he had a religious experience.”

Hilda raised an eyebrow when Claude snorted and began to laugh at his own joke. Behind them, Marianne sighed in resignation, while Hilda tilted her head and said sweetly, “Claude, sweetie, I think you might have been hanging out with Alois far too much.”

The moment they had arrived in the monastery, Rhea was immediately there to greet them with Seteth and some of the knights. She gasped when she saw the sleeping woman in Dimitri’s eyes and she immediately walked towards them. Claude noticed Dimitri’s hands twitch as the archbishop approached them and placed a hand on his back. He shook his head slightly when the prince glanced at him, silently telling him not to move away from Rhea.

The last thing they needed was for Rhea to know that they suspected her of doing something nefarious to the woman in Dimitri’s arms.

The prince seemed to have gotten the message as he kept still while Rhea stopped right in front of him. The archbishop caressed her cheek, her fingers lingering at the strands of mint-colored hair between them as her eyes brightened and a soft smile appeared on her face.

“She needs medical attention, Lady Rhea.” Dimitri said, keeping his voice calm as he kept his eyes on the sleeping woman in his arms.

“Hm?” Rhea seemed a bit dazed, staring at Dimitri for a moment before saying, “Yes, of course.”

“I will attend to her personally.” Rhea declared, making both Claude and Dimitri widened their eyes. They turned to stare at each other.

There was no way they could deny her without sounding disrespectful and suspicious.

Grimly, Claude nodded at Dimitri while Rhea said, “Follow me.”

“Yes, Lady Rhea.” Dimitri replied, keeping his eyes at Claude as he nodded back.

He followed the archbishop and Claude tried to follow Dimitri but Seteth stepped in front of him. Seteth stared at him as he said, “I will listen to your report on Lady Rhea’s stead.”

Claude could only watch as Dimitri followed Rhea inside the monastery before facing Seteth who was staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face. 

Knowing he has no other choice, he starts to fill Seteth in on what happened. 

… for course, he kept all of his conversation about their suspicion of Rhea and Teach’s possible new divinity a secret.

Teach was kept in the archbishop’s personal quarters for the next few days. Visitors were not allowed.

Which made Dimitri apprehensive. With their future king apprehensive, the entire Blue Lion House became apprehensive as well. This made everyone in the Golden Deer also apprehensive. 

Which, in turn, made everyone in the monastery apprehensive.

Claude was sure that Dimitri will demand to see her beloved any day now and all hell will break loose if he gets denied.

Speaking of pet names, Hilda heard Dimitri call her ‘my beloved’ in the Sealed Forest so now everyone knew about it. There’s a bet going around on what Teach’s pet name for Dimitri is.

Last time he saw the board (which was posted in the Golden Deer classroom with the title “Pet Name!” because they really did stop trying to be subtle after they found out that Dimitri calls her ‘my beloved’), the leading nicknames were ‘my prince’, ‘my lion’ (which were both unoriginal but probably the safest bet) and ‘my wolf’ (which was strange to Claude but it seemed a lot of the Blue Lion students that picked that came from the northern territories). There was one vote for ‘Boar’ and someone added two comments to it that says ‘that’s Felix’s pet name for His Highness, not the Professor’ ‘I will kill you, Sylvain.’ which they just left there because they found it funny.

Returning to the current dilemma of the entire monastery, he eavesdropped on some of the Blue Lion students whispering to Dimitri, informing him that they were ready to fight the church if he gives the order as the detainment of the crown prince’s betrothed (and Claude had to blink at that. He knew they were together but he didn’t know about any betrothment) would be considered as a slight against the Kingdom itself.

Which was, okay, an absolute overreaction on their part and a bit frightening… 

Dimitri had simply thanked them and didn’t even bother to try and dissuade them from attacking the church. 

“Aren’t you guys supposed to be all buddy-buddy with the church?” Claude asked once the Blue Lion students left Dimitri. 

The prince didn’t seem surprised by his fellow house leader’s eavesdropping and simply sighed as he explained, “The church and Faerghus do have a close relationship, yes, and many of my people are devout believers of the Church of Seiros. However…”

Dimitri stopped, placing his hand on his chin as he thought about his next words. He stared at Claude silently before finally explaining, “There is a difference between being faithful to the teachings of the church and being faithful to the church itself. Not to mention, many were displeased by the church’s interference four years ago and the acts of the Western Church this past year has reflected badly on the entire church.”

Claude blinked at Dimitri before asking, “Dimitri, you’re not preparing your reasoning so you can attack the church, are you?”

The blond-haired young man chuckled at him and shook his head as he replied, “Of course not, Claude. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Pardon the intrusion.” They both turned towards where the voice came from. Edelgard had her hand on her waist as she looked at her fellow heir, “Dimitri, may I have a bit of your time?”

She glanced at Claude before adding, “Alone, if possible.”

Sensing that Dimitri was going to say no because of his friendship with Claude, bless him, the dark-haired heir interrupted him and said, “He’s all yours, Edelgard, I have other things to do anyway.”

“Claude.” Dimitri frowned at him and he just waved it off, grinning at the blond prince. 

“No, really.” His grin grew as he teased, “I need to ask about how the people of Faerghus propose.”

Dimitri’s cheeks reddened and he shouted scandalously, “Claude!”

He chuckled as he walked away from the two heirs, waving casually without looking. He turned towards the hallway leading to the reception hall and leaned on the wall, turning to watch the future emperor and future king as Edelgard said, “Before I say anything, I would like to confirm something. Dimitri, are you and the profes-”

Someone cleared their throat right next to Claude and he turned around, coming face-to-face with Edelgard’s retainer. Claude smiled at him while Hubert said, “Please refrain from listening in on Lady Edelgard’s conversation.”

“I wasn’t listening in.” Claude casually defended himself, “I was just resting.”

“Then please rest elsewhere.” Hubert’s lips curved into a small smirk as he suggested, “Perhaps in the infirmary?”

Claude chuckled at Hubert’s suggestion, shaking his head slightly. He saw a flash of red hair and grinned as he said, “Just the person I was looking for. Hey, Sylvain!”

The red-haired noble stopped and blinked as he saw the head of Golden Deer walking towards him with Edelgard’s retainer of all people. 

“Sylvain?” The young woman walking with him called out.

Claude stopped in front of Sylvain just in time to hear Sylvain whisper to the young woman, “Sorry, I’ll follow you as soon as I can. Just tell them not to do anything until they hear from me or His Highness. Take Ingrid with you too.”

The young woman nodded at Sylvain before bowing at Claude. Claude remembered her as the Blue Lion student he had danced with during the annual ball but he didn’t have time to say anything as she had already left, walking briskly out of the reception hall. He turned back to the red-haired young man and asked, “Lovers’ quarrel?”

Sylvain chuckled and shook his head, “I wish it was something as trivial as that. No, that was-”

Claude saw the older man glance at the dark shadow behind the Golden Deer leader before continuing, “Class related. Blue Lion House related.”

“I see.” Claude nodded before turning towards Hubert as he asked, “How long will you keep following me?”

“Until Lady Edelgard is done talking to Dimitri.” The pale young man replied, staring at Claude menacingly.

“His Highness is talking to Edelgard?” Sylvain repeated with wide eyes. He rubbed his face thrice and mumbled, “Goddess, I hope this doesn’t complicate things further.”

Claude had an inkling on what the Blue Lion student was saying. He supposed that the young woman he had been with had informed him about some of the more reckless Blue Lion students’ behavior as of late. If they hear that their future king was talking to the future emperor of an empire known for having a strained relationship with the church, it might be the fuse that blows the entire thing wide open. 

Sylvain sighed and asked as he rubbed the back of his neck, “So, why did you call me, Claude? Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Just wondering about how marriage proposals work in Faerghus.” Claude asked casually, making the older man blink while the dark-haired retainer turned to stare at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Marriage… proposal?” Sylvain repeated. His lips curved into an amused grin as he asked, “Why? Planning to propose to someone from Blue Lion? Is it Ingrid?”

Sylvain’s grin grew as he cheerfully begged, “Please tell me it’s Ingrid. I would love to see you try and propose to Ingrid. It would totally make my day.”

Claude shook his head as he clarified, “Sorry to disappoint you but I’m not planning to propose to anyone. I’m asking… well… hypothetically, if you ask someone to come back to you after you graduate to Gautier, does that count as a marriage proposal?”

Sylvain stared at Claude for a few seconds with an open mouth then he raised his head to stare at the ceiling as he sighed, “Oh, man. Oh, goddess almighty.”

He placed his hand on his face and shook his head before lowering his head to stare at the Riegan heir as he asked, “Is that how Dimitri proposed? Please, please, for the love of all that is holy and pure, please tell me he did not give her a dagger when he asked her to come to Fhirdiad.”

“I don’t think a dagger was involved.” Claude replied, really curious and weirded out by this apparent Faerghus marriage proposal culture.

“That’s good.” Sylvain nodded and patted the shorter young man’s shoulder as he said seriously, “Thank you for telling me, Claude. I will talk to His Highness about this so he can properly proposed.”

“Wait- that’s not-”

“Anyway, I have to go and get back up before talking to His Highness. Thanks again, Claude!” Sylvain said quickly as he ran out of the reception hall.

“Sylvain!” Claude called out as he watched the taller young man ran out of the reception hall, “So he didn’t propose?!”

He wasn’t sure if Sylvain had ignored him or just didn’t hear him so he simply sighed, turning to stare at Hubert as he asked, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about how marriage proposals work in Faerghus, do you?”

Hubert snorted but remained silent, causing Claude to sigh once more.

Thankfully, Teach was finally released from her confinement a day later. Everyone was relieved and she said she was well enough to continue teaching the Golden Deer.

She had also informed them this month’s mission: to escort her and Rhea to the Holy Tomb so she may receive some divine message from the goddess.

At those words, her eyes met his.

They both knew something was wrong about the mission. There was no divine message to be received because the goddess had already disappeared.

They told Dimitri about it as well and he came to the same conclusion as both of them.

Whatever divine message Rhea was talking about, it was something else that may be connected to what she did to the mint-haired woman when she was a baby.

Unfortunately, the Blue Lions were not allowed to join the mission but Dimitri had said solemnly to her, “Just say the word and we will come with you, regardless of the archbishop’s orders.”

“That’s asking for trouble, Dimitri.” Claude tried to reason, “Rhea would definitely not take an obvious disregard of her orders lightly. She might even consider it as a deliberate attack on the church by Faerghus.”

“Claude’s right.” She agreed before adding, “Also, with Rhea away from the monastery, you can use this chance to try and find out any clue to what she had been doing or what she’s planning to do.”

Dimitri wasn’t exactly pleased with it but he nodded nonetheless, “I can see your and Claude’s point. Very well, I will remain here in the monastery and look for clues while you are away.”

They would later hear that Edelgard had left for Enbarr on official Imperial business.

Claude had a bad feeling about all these. 

On the day of the mission, Claude was waiting in the reception hall for the other Golden Deer members and Teach.

“Claude.” The dark-haired young man turned towards the sound of his name. Seeing Dimitri walk towards him with a serious expression on his face, Claude gave him an easy smile.

“Hey, Dimitri.” He casually greeted when the prince stopped in front of him.

“About your mission…” The blond-haired young man paused, looking at his eyes silently for a few moments, before he finally said, “I entrust you with her safety.”

Claude chuckled before replying, “Don’t worry, Dimitri. I swear to you. I’ll protect Teach with my life.”

It was Dimitri’s turn to chuckle as he shook his head. He smiled at Claude genuinely as he said, “Thank you, my friend, but I would prefer if you and her return here alive. Of course, that goes for all of our friends.”

“Thanks, Dimitri.” Claude nodded at him as he proclaimed seriously, “We’ll all come back safely, I promise.”

And because he couldn’t help it, he had to tease the serious prince, “If I’m being completely honest, I’m more worried about you.”

“Me?” The taller man blinked at him.

“No offense, Dimitri, but you’re not really stealthy. Not to mention, that blue cape of yours and handsome face definitely hurt any stealth you might have.” He teased as he grinned at the prince, “I’m really worried you’d try to get inside one of the restricted rooms and get caught because of your blue cape or that hair of yours.”

The Blue Lion leader chuckled once more, shaking his head as he agreed, “Yes, I agree with you there, Claude. However, I do know of a few talented individuals who would be willing to infiltrate restricted areas for me.” 

“Using others to do your dirty work?” Claude couldn’t help but laugh out loud and Dimitri joined him. 

Claude said scandalously, “Your princeliness! Who has been corrupting you?!”

Dimitri raised an eyebrow as he deadpanned, “Who do you think?”

The Riegan heir dramatically gasped as he said, “It’s Teach, isn’t it? Teach has been corrupting you, hasn’t she?!”

He rested his arm on the prince’s shoulder as declared, “Don’t worry, Dimitri, I will talk to Teach about this.”

He leaned towards Dimitri as he added with a wink, “Unless, of course, you like being corrupted by your dearly beloved.”

“Claude!” Dimitri shouted scandalously, making the dark-haired house leader laugh loudly once more.

The entire mission went wrong in so many ways it wasn’t even funny. Teach had to sit in the goddess’ throne but nothing happened. Rhea looked devastated by that then the empire attacked the Holy Tomb with crest beasts, trying to steal the crest stones. They found out Edelgard was the Flame Emperor and Rhea had ordered for her immediate execution. 

She managed to retreat and she had now declared war against the Church of Seiros as the new emperor of Adrestia.

As if that wasn’t enough, Dimitri seemed to have found out something while they were away that directly linked Edelgard to the Tragedy of Duscur. Whatever he found was enough to push him close to the edge and Teach had to talk to him privately in her room.

For hours.

He wasn’t sure if they just talked or she found an alternate way to get to Dimitri but whatever she did, Claude was grateful for it and he didn’t want to know any details.

… Maybe just a little bit of detail may be nice. 

He’ll pester Teach once this was all over. 

They needed Dimitri’s head clear as Edelgard’s main force was marching to Garreg Mach.

It won’t be long until they reached the monastery.

The knights have already started to evacuate the common folks staying both in the monastery and the nearby villages who might get caught up by the marching imperial troops. Some of the students had also left, many of them from Black Eagle House. There was no evidence that they knew about Edelgard’s betrayal so they weren’t detained. 

He had been surprised when a few Blue Lion students also evacuated. He expected maybe just one or two students to evacuate since they have shown their loyalty (some of them to a frightening degree) to Dimitri. Ingrid had explained that most of them had evacuated by Dimitri’s orders, including the heir of a house that was part of the royal court. They had been given the order to return to Faerghus and warn the noble houses about the Adrestian Empire’s movements. Their future king had ordered that defenses be prepared and the knight orders be ready to mobilize. 

It was a move that Claude would have done himself if he knew that the Leicester Alliance would listen to him. Unfortunately, the Leicester Alliance wasn’t exactly unified under one banner like the kingdom was to House Blaiddyd. Even if House Riegan was the leader of the Leicester Alliance, his House didn’t really have any real power over the other members of the Five Ruling Houses. He would have more luck if the heirs to the Five Ruling Houses would return to their territories and try to persuade their house head instead.

Unfortunately, the ones in Golden Deer that were related to the Five Ruling Houses were also some of their best units so it would be more detrimental to their current situation if they left. 

Before they knew it, the Adrestian Empire was right by their door and the monastery was about to turn into a battlefield. 

He managed to find her in the greenhouse the night before they expect the Adrestian Empire would start their siege. She was staring at the anemone bed that Dedue and Dimitri had nurtured for an entire year. He stopped right next to her and said, “Teach…”

She turned to face him and tilted her head.

Claude wasn’t sure how to start so he just confessed, “There are so many things I wanted to tell you, you know.”

He sighed before he continued, “But there was never a good time. Every time I think about telling you something, I would think there are more pressing things to think about. That this can wait.”

“And now…” Claude stopped, closing his eyes. He took a deep breath before opening them, staring at her as he smiled, “If I can only say one thing to you, it would be this.”

“Teach… Friend…” Claude shook his head slightly as he continued, “None of those words quite capture what you come to mean to me. We may not be connected by blood, but I believe our bond goes deeper than that.”

His smile grew softer as he continued, “Now that we know each other, our hearts are connected. Even if…”

He faltered at his next words and clenched his hands into a fist as he said, “Even if our paths diverge and we’re forced to say goodbye… I know we will meet again.”

He heard footsteps stop right in front of the entrance of the greenhouse and glanced at the entrance. Dimitri was standing by the entrance, taking a step to the side to lean on the frame of the entrance as he gave them some semblance of privacy. 

“Well, that’s all I wanted to tell you.” Claude said, grinning at her, “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Claude began to walk away from her but stopped when he felt her grab his wrist as she called out, “Claude.” 

He turned around to look at her as she said, “You know we feel the same way about you, right? Me and Dimitri.”

His heart skipped a beat at that and he gulped. There were many things he should say, the truth that he had kept close to his heart that he wished he could tell the both of them. 

About the dream that he could see coming true if they were by his side… 

However, now was not the time.

Instead, he grinned at her and teased, “Aw, Teach, does that mean I’ll be the best man in your wedding?”

Byleth rolled her eyes and let go of his hand as she snarked back, “Good luck fighting Dedue for that title.”

Her lips curved into a teasing smile similar to his as she suggested, “Or you can fight Hilda for the position of maid of honor instead?”

“Wow, two hard places, huh?” Claude commented and they both chuckled. He smiled at her softly as he whispered, “I’m happy for both of you, Teach. I really am.”

“You should be.” She raised an eyebrow at him as she reminded him, “You planned this.”

He blinked as he asked, “You knew?”

She rolled her eyes as she commented, “You’re not really a subtle matchmaker, you know. You and everyone else.”

He chuckled and defended, “Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”

She smiled at him as she nodded, “Yeah. It did.”

She tilted her head as she said with a gentle smile on her face, “Thank you, Claude.”

He bowed at her as he replied, “It was my pleasure, Teach.”

With that said, he waved at her as he walked away without looking back. He stopped next to Dimitri and patted his shoulder. As he stepped out of the greenhouse, Dimitri called out, “Claude.”

He turned to look at his fellow heir as the prince said solemnly, “Thank you for everything.”

His lips curved into a small smile as he added softly, “Thank you for being my friend.”

“Don’t say things like that, Dimitri.” Claude gently chided, “I have a dream that I want to make come true no matter what. I have no plans on dying tomorrow. So promise me…”

“Don’t die out there tomorrow too.” He said seriously, staring at his friend’s blue eyes.

“I promise.” Dimitri replied with a nod, “I also have a dream I wish to protect.”

“Good.” Claude offered his hand to his fellow future king as he swore, “For the sake of our dreams, let’s swear, right here, right now. We’ll get through this and live. We’ll keep moving forward.”

Dimitri took his offered hand and swore, “And we will make our dreams come true. Together. Side by side.”

“As equals.” Claude added, making Dimitri’s eyes widened slightly before his smile brightened.

“Yes.” Dimitri nodded, his grip on Claude’s hand tightening as he repeated, “As equals.”

Defending Garreg Mach was brutal. They left most of the Golden Deer and Blue Lion students to defend the monastery to protect those who still had to evacuate while he, Dimitri, Dedue and Marianne followed Teach to the fields outside the monastery where the main bulk of the imperial troops were marching towards Garreg Mach. They were pinned down by a battalion of imperial foot soldiers while Teach had separated from them to rush towards Rhea who had joined the battle.

As Claude shot an enemy unit who tried to attack Dimitri from the back, they heard a roar that could not have come from any crest beasts they have encountered.

Unless Adrestia had more crest beasts which was a frightening thought all by itself.

They saw a white… dragon? 

Oh merciful gods of Almyra.

Was that an honest to the Fodlan’s vanished goddess dragon?!

How were they supposed to beat that?!

Claude’s internal panic stopped when he realized that the dragon was fighting the empire.

Which only brought a new question…

The church of Seiros has a dragon?!

Where had they been keeping that huge thing all this time?!

The absurdity of this entire thing only grew when they all noticed that the mint-haired professor was rushing in to save the dragon as crest beasts started to overwhelm it.

“Byleth!” Dimitri shouted, running after the reckless woman.

This, of course, caused Dedue to run after him, “Your Highness!”

Marianne turned to look at Claude and he groaned, rubbing his head before saying, “We’re going after those idiots!”

“Okay!” Marianne nodded and they both rushed towards the crest beasts.

Claude’s heart stopped when he saw a large burst of dark magic slammed against her, forcing her towards the cliff. 

Claude couldn’t breath when he saw the ground underneath her crack ominously.

Then she started to fall.

And Dimitri jumped to catch her.

Dedue and Claude lunged to catch Dimitri just as he managed to grab her fingers. The three young men fell to the ground as Dimitri said breathlessly, “I got you. I got you.”

His grip on her finger begin to slip and he grabbed her fingers with his other hand as he repeated desperately, “I got you. I got you. I won’t let you go. I’ll never let go!”

“Claude!” Dimitri shouted desperately and Claude rushed to outstretch his hand towards his professor.

“Grab my hand!” Claude shouted as he tried to outstretch his hand as far as he could while his other hand grabbed the fingers Dimitri was holding with all his strength. 

Behind them, Marianne focused all of her energy on creating a barrier of ice to keep the crest beasts at bay. She was shaking furiously as she continually repaired all the parts of the ice barrier that was being damaged by the crest beasts, already reaching her limit. Tears fell from her eyes as she kept the barrier up, breathing heavily as her entire body begins to shake as part of the magical exhaustion that she was now experiencing.

“Let go of the sword and grab my hand!” Claude screamed as their grip on her fingers began to slip once more.

She dropped the Sword of the Creator and raised her hand but their grip on her other hand began to slip at her movements, causing her free hand to drop.

She stared at both of them and smiled softly.

That’s when they realized what she was thinking.

“Nonononono! Don’t! Please don’t!” Dimitri begged as tears fall from his eyes.

“There’s still a chance! Teach!” Claude shouted, unable to stop the tears from falling from his eyes as well.

“Family.” She whispered, causing both young men to stop, “That’s what you mean to me, Claude. What you mean to both of us.”

“Teach, just try again! It’ll work this time!” Claude begged, leaning towards the cliff and only Dedue’s grip on him stopped him from falling over, “PLEASE!”

“Dimitri.” Tears fall from her eyes as she whispered, “I love-”

She gasped as their grip on her fingers finally fully slip.

“BYLETH!!!” Dimitri screamed as she fell into the dark abyss below. It took Dedue and Claude’s combined weight to stop him from following her, “Let me go! Dedue! Claude! LET GO! BYLETH!”

Claude heard a loud shattering sound and turned around in time to see Marianne fall to the ground as her ice barrier shattered and fell like snow.

“We need to go, Dimitri!” Claude shouted as he and Dedue dragged Dimitri away from the cliff. 

“No! I need to save her! I need to save Byleth!” Dimitri screamed hysterically, outstretching his hand towards the cliff. 

The crest beasts were advancing towards Marianne and they no longer had any choice.

“I’m sorry, Dimitri!” Claude said before hitting Dimitri on the head with Dedue’s Hexlock shield, knocking the hysteric prince out. 

Dedue held Dimitri in his arms as he said to Claude, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” He placed the shield back on Dedue’s back as he reminded him, “We need to get out of here.”

Dedue nodded and followed Claude as they ran towards Marianne.

Claude fired two arrows at the crest beast as it opens its jaw near Marianne. The crest beast howled in pain and he managed to grab Marianne. He held her in his arms as he slid underneath the crest beast while Dedue ran from its right side. Unfortunately, another crest beast lunged at them, forcing him to dodge away from Dedue. With crest beasts chasing after him, he lost sight of Dedue and Dimitri as he ran towards the monastery, carrying an unconscious cold but breathing Marianne in his arms.

He never saw Dimitri or Dedue after that.

The next piece of news he heard about them was a few months after Garreg Mach had fallen and he was back in Derdriu with his grandfather. Dedue was declared missing, presumed dead, while Cornelia had announced that Dimitri had been executed for killing his uncle, Rufus Faust Blaiddyd. 

He had to lock his door and muffled his frustrated cries.

He fell on the floor, leaning against the door as he covered his eyes as tears fell.

He cried for his lost family and for his close friend.

… and the shattered dream they could have shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I’m sorry, did you think this would be a route where Edelgard teams up with Claude and Dimitri to fight the church? Or that Byleth wasn’t going to fall? it’s called a red herring… sorry. Hope you guys still like it.  
Stay tuned for part 2 (which I will write once I’ve finished the next chapter of The Winter Lady of Fraldarius)  
I would just like to remind everyone that this will have a HAPPY ending so please stay strong (and don’t let go)  
Sorry, I couldn’t help it. XD
> 
> Because Claude is naturally a curious person who likes to know things so there’s a lot more background lore in this fic than I initially planned. So yeah, here’s some of the highlights (most, if not all, are also present in The Winter Lady of Fraldarius (shameless plug, again))
> 
> The Wolf, The Lion and The Griffon  
Faerghus is ruled by House Blaiddyd and House Blaiddyd had been unofficially ruling over the northern part of Fodlan even during the time they were a part of the Adrestian Empire. Blaiddyd means ‘Wolf Lord’ so, in Faerghus, they have a lot of folklore about the ancient Wolf Kings, rulers of northern Fodlan. These folklores are heavily guarded, never told in the presence of one who was not born in Faerghus nor anywhere else but in Faerghus itself, mostly designed as children's stories to be told during the harshest of winter nights. Some parts of the Alliance still tell stories about the ancient wolf kings but it depends on the territory which includes both Goneril and Gloucester territories. The Lion imagery of Faerghus came because of Loog, the King of the Lions. Before Loog, the lion has no meaning to Faerghus. The hero Blaiddyd riding a griffon is a common folklore in Faerghus. No one has seen a griffon in centuries and most people believe they are now extinct but stories told that griffons were a common mount during the time of the Ten Elites and that the hero Blaiddyd rode a griffon to battle. That is the reason why Faerghus’ coat of arms is a knight riding a griffon. It’s meant to represent the hero Blaiddyd.
> 
> The Loyalty of Faerghus (Slight? Spoilers to AM and CF)  
While the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus has a close relationship with the Church and a lot of its people (both nobles and commoners) are devout followers of the teachings of the Church of Seiros, the majority of them have their loyalty tied to the royal family House Blaiddyd. This can be seen in the people rioting once they heard that the rightful king was marching to Fhirdiad in AM and in the remaining kingdom units’ unique dialogues in the last stage of CF where Dimitri is already dead. Both Gilbert (who is supposed to be a knight of Seiros) and Ashe’s dialogues focused on both the kingdom and Dimitri, instead of the church and Rhea who they had followed into battle, while Annette’s unique dialogues focused on protecting Fhirdiad itself. The misguided genocide of the people of Duscur was also due to their anger over the murder of their king and the church only stepped in after the genocide had occurred.  
Of course, this loyalty does not include those who had sided with Cornelia but since this is in Claude’s POV and his knowledge is currently limited, he does not know about the nobles who simply pretends to be loyal and are waiting for the perfect moment to strike.  
(Fun fact: Excluding Mercedes who is originally from the Empire, none of the playable characters from Faerghus, including Gilbert, has an affinity to Faith magic XD) 
> 
> Magical Exhaustion (Sorry, I have to link [the Winter Lady of Fraldarius ch4](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20859788/chapters/50012033) because of the notes' char limit. It's in the end notes of that chapter)  
  
Claude’s Final Scene  
In the game, Claude doesn’t see Byleth fall (none of them do) so he spent five years believing she’s still alive. In this fic, both he and Dimitri (with Dedue and Marianne) saw Byleth fall and they know there was no way she could have survived that. That’s why in the final scene, Claude cries for her as well. 
> 
> Let me know if there is any background lore you guys like me to expand on and I’ll include them in this note (and reply to you)


	2. (Purple Anemone) “I Believe In You and I Wait For You” / (White Anemone) “Truth” and “Hope”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years have passed since he had to watch his professor (his family) fall into her death. Now, on the day of the millennium festival, he stands in the Goddess Tower, hoping against hope that he would see a face he hadn’t seen for the past five years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anything else!  
Please see this awesome art by @CardyDesu based on [Part 1: Dimileth with Anemones ](https://twitter.com/CardyDesu/status/1187499967591501824)  
Now then, before anything else, please do note that this will have a HAPPY ending. No matter how bleak it may become, please keep that in mind and hold on.  
And, on that note, this part puts the angst tag to work… hard. You have been warned.  
This part won’t follow Verdant Wind route as hard as part 1 did as relationships between the characters changed during the course of part 1 (more specifically, the Golden Deers and the Blue Lions)  
Also, the fight scenes are more graphic now because it’s no longer mock battles.

Claude wasn’t sure what he was doing here in the Goddess Tower actually. Today would mark that five years have passed since they made a promise to meet here once more during the millennium celebration of Garreg Mach but he wasn’t really holding his breath that any of them would show up.

Especially the Blue Lion students…

It was an adorable child-like promise brought by a careless comment of how, by this time, Dimitri would have already been king of Faerghus so both the Golden Deer and Blue Lion students had pretty much pressured him to promise that he would visit during the celebration so they could see each other. 

But now…

It was that blind hope that brought him to the Goddess Tower, he supposed. 

But as he watched the sunrise alone in the tower, he wondered if he was simply refusing to face the truth.

That maybe no one was… 

His thoughts left him when he heard the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs and his heart began to beat faster.

When he turned around, he had been silently praying to both the Almyran gods and to Fodlan’s goddess that he would see blond hair and clear blue eyes.

His breath hitched and he felt his heart stopped when what he saw was mint hair and light green eyes. 

She looked exactly as he remembered. 

Seeing her, it almost felt like he was back in the academy five years ago. 

His lips curved into a smile as he said what he hoped was a cheerful tone, “You overslept, Teach. Pretty rude to keep a fella waiting like that, wouldn’t you say?”

She stopped a few feet away from him, shrouded in darkness, and stared at him for a few moments before her eyes widened as she asked, “Claude?”

“What’s with that surprised look, my friend?” Claude’s voice cracked at the last word. His feet carried him to her, stopping just a foot away as he asked, “You didn’t really think I-”

“I-” Claude couldn’t bring himself to finish. Instead, he pulled her towards him to the light, to make sure it was truly her and not his eyes playing tricks on him. She truly did look exactly as he had remembered. It was as if time had stopped for her. Unable to stop himself, he pulled her towards his arms and held her tightly. He rested his head on the side of her head as he whispered, “I… I wanted to believe you’re still alive. Even after seeing you fall… I… I…”

His hold on her tightened as he confessed, “Still, I wanted to believe that you were still alive all this time.” 

He felt tears fall from his eyes as he felt her wrap an arm around him while her other hand patted his head as she whispered, “It’s okay, Claude. I’m here now.”

It would have been embarrassing for him with how she was treating him like a child but, right now, at this very moment, all that mattered was that she was right here in his arms, warm and breathing.

It took a few minutes before he could finally let her go. She didn’t say anything and simply watched as he quickly wiped his face clean of tears (and snot). He took a deep breath and turned towards the window where the sun was already high up in the sky. His lips curved into a genuine smile as he asked, “Can you feel it?”

His smile grew as he whispered, “A new dawn is finally here.”

“Not just for us though. No.” He turned to face her once more and said, “For all of Fodlan.”

She took a few steps towards the window, staring at the sky. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He felt like he could keep watching her like this and a part of him wanted to. Just watch her and make sure she was really here, beside him…

But he knew he couldn’t. Instead he grinned at her as he asked, “You hungry, Teach? I brought food.”

She opened her eyes and turned to stare at him, tilting her head slightly as he grinned, “Come on. We can talk while we eat.”

Her lips curved into a small smile as she nodded, “Okay. I could eat.”

Not minding the dirt, they both sat on the wall across the window where Claude had placed the basket of food he had brought with him. He placed the basket between them and took off the cloth on top. She grabbed the imported Almyran wine bottle on top and raised an eyebrow at him. He chuckled and shook his head as he defended himself, “Come on, Teach. I’m already 23, you know? I can drink if I want to.”

She stared at the bottle on her hands as she mumbled, “So… five years have really passed.”

He stared at her for a few seconds before finally asking, “Hey, Teach… Where’ve you been these past five years?”

She sighed and placed the bottle on the ground next to the basket. She took out a sweet bread from the basket and leaned back against the wall behind her as she replied, “I think… I think I was sleeping.”

“Sleeping?” He couldn’t keep the amused tone in his voice. He rested against the wall behind him as well and grabbed a sandwich filled with shredded marinated beef and caramelized onions as he commented in a joking manner, “You know, I would say that you’re joking but, then again, you are the goddess of Fodlan. What would I know about how divinity works?” 

She took a big bite of her bread with one hand while flicking his ear with her other hand, making him wince at the surprised attack. She nonchalantly reminded him, “Not a goddess, Claude. Stop making stuff up.”

He chuckled as he rubbed his ‘wounded’ ear and replied, “Just because we don’t have confirmation doesn’t mean it’s not real, Teach.”

She sighed at his words but, instead of rebutting him, she asked, “How… how is everyone?”

And wasn’t that the big question?

He took a big bite off his sandwich, mostly to have more time to think of how to answer her and also because he hasn’t eaten anything since his small lunch yesterday.

He believed he owed her the truth. Nothing could be gained by giving her white lies, especially at a time like this. 

“I guess we should start from the time you…” He frowned as he said, “... fell asleep.”

“Garreg Mach was lost and we all had to escape. During the confusion, Rhea disappeared and no one has found her body nor has the empire declared that she had been killed so the Knights of Seiros are still searching for her. Because of this, they left the monastery and, well, you can see for yourself what happened during their absence.” He waved towards the window before continuing, “Without the knights to keep the peace, the towns near the monastery are in bad shape too."

“I’m worried about her.” She said before taking a bite off her sweet bread.

“Worried, huh?” He hummed, remembering how both he and Dimitri had been more worried about what the enigmatic archbishop had been planning. He was pretty sure Dimitri would have sliced her head off at even the slightest chance that she meant to do harm to his beloved. He supposed for all the distrust his professor had for the archbishop, it didn’t mean she hated her or wanted harm to befall her. Claude shrugged before saying, “Well, she has always been fond of you but I’m not so sure it would be for the best if she returned as the archbishop. Rather, with her gone…”

He stopped and shook his head as he said, “Eh, nevermind. This could be a dangerous conversation.”

“My grandfather died a few years back so I’ve been leading the Alliance.” He informed her instead. Noticing she had turned to stare at him with a concerned look, he smiled at her as he explained, “It’s okay. He died peacefully in his sleep. It wasn’t anything nefarious or something, just old age.”

He had made a thorough investigation back then to make sure of that.

“But still… to lose someone…” She turned away and devoured the remaining sweet bread in her hands. 

He watched her take out a piece of chicken leg without looking in the basket and continued as she ate, “Hilda stayed with me in Castle Riegan for a year but she had to return to Goneril to help her family.”

He didn’t tell her that the reason why Hilda had stayed with him was because he had been a mess after receiving news about Dimitri and Dedue’s supposed deaths. She had been the one to write to Sylvain and had helped him get back on his feet. It was because of her correspondence with Sylvain that they had learned that Dimitri and Dedue could still be alive. 

Even now, after Hilda had returned to Goneril territory, he still kept a secret correspondence with Sylvain in hopes of actually getting some kind of good news. 

He was sure the servants and soldiers of Castle Riegan assumed something was going on between the two of them but it wasn’t like that.

He and Hilda were partners-in-crime and they supported each other from the start of their greatest mission in Garreg Mach. As such, they both had been close to Dimitri as well as their supposedly dead professor. There was no one in the entire world that could understand their feelings during those dark days than each other.

The servants thought the anemones they had planted and cared for in Castle Riegan was a symbol of their love and they wouldn’t be wrong. It was a symbol of their love for those they thought they had lost. He still remembered the day he held Hilda tight as she cried when the first anemones to bloom had been white with a purple center. Even now, the purple-white anemones bloomed in the courtyard of Castle Riegan and he tended to them every day. 

“But she’s fine. She sent me a letter two months ago and it’s pretty much her complaining about how her big brother was being overprotective of her.” Claude said instead, watching her as she finished the chicken leg almost immediately.

He wondered if she had an appetite worth five years.

It was hard to be sure considering everyone knew that the Golden Deer’s professor had a huge appetite and it wasn’t actually surprising to see her in the dining hall eating with her students a lot. Sometimes, even ten times in one day… 

“Leonie gathered Jeralt’s mercenaries and started doing mercenary work, mostly in Alliance territories.” Claude explained, seeing her movement freeze at the name of her father.

“How… are they?” She asked softly, throwing the leg bone out of the window like a total barbarian. He was just impressed that she managed to throw that far. 

“The mercenaries?” He asked and got a nod from her. He almost wanted to hit himself for forgetting that the mercenaries in Jeralt’s company were also her friends, perhaps the closest thing to a family she had growing up. All of them had been devastated when he had to inform them of her supposed death and Leonie had to look for them for two years and get them together in one mercenary company once more. Recalling Leonie’s last report, he replied, “They’re doing fine. Leonie said they’re fired up and she actually has problems keeping them from overworking themselves.”

He kept the fact that the reason why the mercenaries were working hard was because Leonie’s actual mission had been to find Dimitri and Dedue. The mercenaries were working hard because they believed that they owed it to the supposedly dead Byleth to find the man she loved and keep him safe in her place. 

She chuckled softly at that and took out a sandwich with the same filling as his. He watched her try to take a bite but stop before she could, wrinkling her nose before placing the sandwich back to the basket.

He frowned slightly. She had never been a picky eater before. Watching her pick another sweet bread, he thought that maybe she just wanted to eat sweet bread for now. He remembered there was one day where she was just eating Saghret and Cream the entire day so it might be one of those days. 

“Marianne has been traveling all over Fodlan as part of a traveling healer corp. They mostly go to places that had been part of a battle or a skirmish and heal everyone in need, no matter which faction they were in.” He explained instead, watching her eat.

“And she’s okay?” She asked worriedly before finishing her second (or was it third?) sweet bread.

He nodded, smiling softly as he remembered Marianne’s last letter, “Yeah, Teach. She’s doing okay.”

He and Hilda had been worried when they had received Marianne’s letter, fearing for the safety of their friend. She had been adamant that she was fine and that this was the best way she could help, not only the people of Fodlan, but in searching for Dimitri as well. The traveling healer corp took her all over Fodlan, even to imperial territory. The monthly letter they received from Marianne only alleviated their concern slightly but it was also clear in her letters that traveling and helping those in need has helped her grow as well. 

“Lysithea's with her parents, trying to keep Ordelia territory out of all these.” He waved his hand nonchalantly, “But it’s getting harder and harder as the divide between the pro-Imperial and the anti-Imperial factions in the Alliance is getting clearer.”

“Divide?” She asked before shoving another sweet bread in her mouth.

He glanced at the basket and noticed that it was almost out of sweet breads but remained quiet about that as he replied instead, “Well, I managed to make it seem like the Alliance is still unified and against the empire but House Gloucester had declared that it was part of the empire a few months ago. Because of that, many more nobles are planning to announce their support to the empire as well which will include House Ordelia as their territory is between Gloucester and Hrym. If they announce their neutrality or their support to House Riegan, they’d be swarmed by imperial soldiers from the south and Gloucester knights from the north.”

Her brows furrowed at that and she asked, “What about Lorenz? How is he?”

“Lorenz…” He hummed, finishing his sandwich before answering, “Well, we all know how he is. He’s bound by his honor to obey his father but…”

He grinned at her as he admitted, “He’s been sending me coded messages about any news from the empire he would get and he’s been helpful in keeping everyone safe whenever they had to travel to Gloucester territory.” 

“Speaking of people traveling to unfriendly territories, I hired Ignatz and Raphael too. They mostly watch over the alliance territory, including the pro-imperial ones. They keep me updated in the nobles’ movements.” He continued. She hummed as she finished her (he had stopped counting) sweet bread and took another one from the basket while he continued, “They’re doing fine. Their last report was around Edmund territory so I’m thinking they’ll be a little late in joining us.”

He didn’t add that, like Leonie, he had asked Raphael and Ignatz to pursue any lead, no matter how small it was, about Dimitri. Ignatz had even given Leonie a sketch of Dimitri that she could use to ask around. Claude had sent a sketch to Marianne and three more sketches to Sylvain in hopes that it will help their search.

Speaking of which…

“Teach…” He turned to stare at her seriously. She must have felt the severity of what he was going to say and turned as well, staring at him with a stoic expression that he knew hid her concern, “Faerghus… isn’t in a good condition right now.”

Her hands clenched into fists but her face was as emotionless as a doll. It was actually more worrying for him as he wasn’t sure how to proceed but he knew her well enough to know that she needed to hear the entire truth, “It’s been divided into two clear factions. The southern and most of the central kingdom territories have become part of the empire as the Faerghus dukedom under the leadership of the mage Cornelia.” 

He noticed that her eyes seemed to shine with recognition at the name and he wondered if Dimitri or someone in Blue Lion had told her about the mage. Still, she remained silent so he continued, “The northern kingdom territories with the Charon and the Galatea territories have banded together to resist them as the Blaiddyd loyalists. Even now, the borders between the two factions are littered with battles and skirmishes. The kingdom is the most dangerous place in Fodlan right now.”

“Blaiddyd loyalists…” She repeated and asked in a calm voice belying the fear in her eyes, “Claude… where’s Dimitri?”

He grimly stared back at her as he informed her, “Cornelia declared that Dimitri was executed four years ago.”

Seeing her pale, he grabbed her arm and hurried added, “But I’ve been in contact with Sylvain! They have confirmed that Dimitri managed to escape with the help of a few men in Duscur and a count from the royal court who incited a riot from both the people in Fhirdiad and the knights in Castle Blaiddyd.”

He felt a pang of pain in his chest as he remembered the day he received that letter. The count who had incited the confusion that helped Dimitri and the men from Duscur escape had been executed as soon as Cornelia had learned of his involvement together with the knights who participated in the riot but did not leave for the northern kingdom territories and chose, instead, to stay in Fhirdiad while his last living relative, his niece who had inherited his title upon his death, was placed under house arrest in Fhirdiad. Claude actually felt worried for the newly dubbed countess when he read about that, remembering that she had been the girl he danced with during the ball. And, if Sylvain’s letters were correct, many more Blaiddyd loyalists were under house arrest or in prison at the moment.

“Dimitri’s alive?” Her voice brought him back to the present and his eyes softened.

“As far as we know, yes, he’s alive but…” His heart ached as the words left his mouth and he saw her pale once more, “We don’t know where he is. Even Dedue is missing. There’s no official search from both the empire and the dukedom so we don’t know if Edelgard truly believed Cornelia’s declaration but we… the Blaiddyd loyalists and the Golden Deers have been looking for him… for both of them.”

While the Blaiddyd loyalists focused their effort in searching Faerghus, Claude focused his in Leicester but none of them were able to get any news at all about Dimitri or Dedue. Claude hoped that they were still together and in hiding, perhaps in Kleiman territory. It was Duscur before it had been called Kleiman territory and Claude was sure Dedue would have an idea where in Kleiman they could hide.

“Teach, I swear to you we won’t stop until we fi-”

He stopped when she suddenly stood, running towards the window. He heard her retch and winced at the sound. He walked towards her and held her hair back as she continued to vomit out the food she had just eaten. 

Once she was done, he stepped away, giving her the privacy to clean herself while he looked at the basket. He took out a bottle of water and gave it to her when she walked towards him. She nodded gratefully at him and popped the cork before drinking. She finished the bottle almost immediately and he handed her another bottle from the basket but she shook her head. She placed the bottle on the ground and rubbed her right fingers with her left hand. 

He turned to face the window, seeing the sun was almost about to set in a few hours (had they really been talking and eating that long?), once more before turning towards her. She looked pensive, almost like she was lost in her own little world as she covered her right fingers with her left hand, her thumb rubbing her middle and ring fingers. Not that he could blame her. Finding out that the man she loved was missing for five years while she had been asleep would most probably give anyone some kind of guilt even if they know that they couldn’t have controlled it. Reminding her that today was the day of the millennium festival where both their house and the Blue Lion house had promised to meet up would just hurt her even more. 

“Hey, Teach…” He called out, making her raise her head to stare at him. She tilted her head as a silent question and he suggested, “Just standing around sounds boring, so why don’t we get in some exercise? Get our mind off things for a while?”

He grinned as he teased, “You must be in bad shape if you’ve been sleeping for five years. It’ll do you good to get your body moving again.”

She raised an eyebrow as she asked, “You want to play a game?”

His grin turned mischievous as he replied vaguely, “Something like that.”

Seeing her narrow her eyes at him, he added quickly, “Look, if you come with me, you’ll understand.”

Knowing that the best way to get her to do what he wanted was to make her not have a choice and make her interested in it, he began to walk out of the tower as he said in a nonchalant manner, “Oh, and don’t forget your weapons, okay?”

“My weapo- Claude!” She called out, following him as he descended the stairs.

“I want to make sure neither your leadership nor your skill with a blade have dulled.” He cut her off, making sure she didn’t have any choice but to follow him. 

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Claude-” She stopped as they exited the tower and a gust of wind blew around them. 

He grinned as a great shadow blocked out the sun, turning towards her. His grin grew when he saw her jaw slack at the sight of his impressive (if he does say so himself) wyvern riding battalion he had brought with him as they flew on top of them. Seeing his own wyvern land on the ground in front of them, he walked towards the affectionate beast, caressing her head as she nudged his chest before rubbing the side of her face against his cheek. Seeing her approach them, he introduced the two, “Teach, this is… well, Teach.”

She raised an eyebrow at the name as she asked, “You named your wyvern… ‘Teach’?”

“Yup.” He nodded before cooing at his wyvern, “Who’s the cutest? You are, Teach. You’re the cutest.”

The wyvern Teach cooed at him as he scratched the best part of her neck while the other Teach sighed and simply shook her head, already used to the eccentricity of her Golden Deer house. She simply caressed the wyvern’s head, following the path his hands took as she asked, “So, where are we supposed to go again?” 

His smile turned into mischievous once more which raised a few of her internal ‘oh-no-one-of-my-fawns-is-going-to-do-something-stupid-again’ alerts. He mounted the wyvern and offered his hand towards her as he said, “Come on, Teach. Best way to travel.”

She took his hand without any hesitation, showing how much she trusted her student, and he pulled her up, making her sit behind him. He grabbed the reins of his wyvern and felt her tighten her hold on his waist as the wyvern flew into the air. His Immortal Corps battalion, wyvern riders proficient in bows that he had hand-picked from different battalions under the anti-Imperial Alliance faction and trained for years immediately flew into formation as they had been trained to do, letting their leader lead them to their destination.

By the time they have reached the abandoned town nearest to the monastery, the sun had already set and the moon’s light was their gentle guide. Thankfully, the abandoned town was littered with torches lighting the streets, obviously set by…

“See those men, Teach?” He asked, pointing at one of the men holding a torch at the middle of what could have been a plaza before the empire laid waste to it, “They’re thieves. Apparently they’re trying to run off with treasure from the monastery.”

Her eyes narrowed at that information and, before Claude could react, she jumped off the wyvern. 

“Teach!” He called out, watching as she landed on her feet and rushed the nearest thief. The thief didn’t even know what hit him as she took out her dagger and covered his mouth before slicing his neck.

He heard someone from his battalion whistle but he paid it no attention, his eyes trained at his professor as she used the thief’s shirt to clean her dagger before sheathing it. She took the corpse’s sword, swinging it to test its weight and balance before nodding to herself.

He sighed as he watched her charge the thieves, cutting through their ranks like they were just the training dummies in the training hall.

He heard the sound of a bell coming from somewhere north of the village and he shouted, “Teach! They’ve noticed us!”

She simply slashed diagonally, throwing the blood on her stolen sword at the ground, as she said in an emotionless tone, “Let them come.”

As if summoned by her words, more thieves rushed out of the different abandoned houses and streets. She aimed her sword in front of her as she declared, “If you value your life, drop everything you’ve stolen from the monastery and leave!”

When none of them accepted her mercy, her eyes narrowed as she said, “Fine then. Claude!”

“Got your back, Teach.” He immediately replied, nocking an arrow. His battalion followed his lead and nocked an arrow as well. 

The bandits rushed her and he let his arrow fly, immediately followed by the rain of arrows from his battalion. The arrows mercilessly showered the thieves at the rear while his professor showed why she was called the Ashen Demon.

The torches’ light made her shadow dance as she cut and slice all who stood in her path. Blood decorated the abandoned town yet she herself did not have a speck of blood on her. She stabbed the sword right into a thief’s chest, leaving the bloody sword inside the poor man, before taking the spear in his hands which she threw, impaling three incoming men as her Crest of Flames sang in her blood. She dodged an incoming slash from a thief on her right and grabbed the hilt of his sword as she elbowed him right in the neck. The thief gasped and let go of his sword to clutch his neck as he tried to breath and she brought the sword down, slicing him from the shoulder to the stomach. 

Meanwhile, Claude and his battalion had to scatter as some of the thieves began sniping them, unable to provide backup to the one being surrounded by thieves. His battalion paired up, ensuring a continuous barrage of arrows as one fired while the other prepared their next shot. 

“Claude!” She shouted at him, pointing at the running thieves to her right before grabbing the shield of the corpse next to her feet. She knelt as a sword struck the shield before pushing the shield up. The thief took a few steps back and she slammed the circular edge of the shield right in the man’s face before throwing the shield to an incoming axe wielding thief. The impact of the throw made the man drop his axe which she grabbed in mid-air as she crouched. She twirled while she was crouched, her arms outstretched and letting the axe slice anything surrounding her. 

Seeing the fleeing thieves, he shouted at his battalion, “This is gonna get expensive. Collect everything the thieves carried out!”

His battalion fanned out, aiming at the fleeing thieves while Teach kept the other thieves busy.

Three thieves managed to escape his battalion’s arrows and were on their way to freedom using the southeastern exit when a swarm of dark magic created insects appeared around all of them. They screamed as the dark magic assaulted them, covering them from head to toe. Two of them dropped dead while the remaining thief ran blindly as the swarm continue to surround him. He let out a death cry as he was pierced by the lance of a man on a galloping horse.

Claude’s lips curved into a smile as he heard the disdained voice say, “The barbarity is even worse than the rumors.” 

Lorenz placed a foot on the shoulder of the thief and pulled his lance out. As the corpse dropped on the ground next to his horse, he declared, “On my honor as a noble, I will expel these ruffians!”

“Ugh. The instant we arrive, we’re neck deep in battle.” Claude’s smile grew as he saw a smaller young woman sitting behind Lorenz. She sighed as she raised the hand holding the Gloucester relic, the glow of a magic circle starting to appear on the twitching tip as she commented, “We should’ve arrived late.”

“How could you say that, Lysithea!” The purple-haired noble scolded his fellow noble as his horse galloped towards the running thieves, “As a fellow noble, it is your duty-”

“Yeah, yeah!” Lysithea turned towards Claude and shouted, “Red Cloth!”

Both Claude and their professor recognized the warning. Seeing the shambled building with a red cloth covering half of its roof, she immediately ran away from the building while Claude ordered the two wyvern riders near the building, “Fall back!”

The wyvern riders flew away from the building. A second later, a magically created moon appeared on top of the building. Dark shadows appeared from behind the moon and enveloped the thieves around it and they all screamed. The magically created moon flashed before disappearing and all the thieves touched by the shadow fell to the ground dead. 

“What the hell was that?!” One of the thieves screamed.

“Screw this! I’m outta here!” Another shouted, running towards the southwestern exit. A few more thieves followed him and Claude’s battalion tried to snipe them but they used the buildings to shield themselves from the arrows. 

One of the thieves jumped off a barrel but gasped as an axe suddenly slammed against his side. A wyvern flew across the southwestern exit and dropped the body as its rider flicked her axe to remove the blood. The pink-haired wyvern rider grinned at Claude as she greeted, “Hey, Claude! Hope you didn’t wait-”

Her eyes widened as she realized the mint-haired woman fighting at the center for the town, “Over there… Is that the professor?!” 

Tears welled up from her eyes and a big smile appeared on her face as she saw Lysithea and Lorenz as well, “And the others?!”

The thieves who tried to use Hilda’s surprise to escape were immediately shot down as Leonie rushed into the town on her horse, bow at the ready. 

“Professor!?” Leonie shouted, seeing their supposedly dead professor at the thick of the battle, “You’ve been alive all this time?! Where have you been hiding?!” 

Her words were drowned out by the mercenaries’ “KID!”

Before Leonie could stop them, her mercenary group had rushed into battle to support the daughter of their late boss. She sighed and shook her head before saying as she nocked another arrow, “Never mind, talk later!”

The Ashen Demon only nodded at the mercenaries suddenly beside her before aiming the almost broken lance in her grasp towards the center of the clustered thieves in front of her as she ordered, “Break thru!”

“Break!” The mercenaries shouted in unison as they formed into a triangle in front of her before rushing to clustered thieves with the lance wielders in front and with her joining the charge from the back.

“Sword!” She ordered as she dropped the lance she had pilfered from one of the corpses and mercenary to her immediate right threw his sword at her which she caught effortless. 

Seeing her lead her father’s mercenary to a charge, Claude turned towards his former classmates as he said, “You finally made it! I suppose virtue still exists in this crazy world after all.”

“You have a lot of explaining to do, Claude!” Lysithea shouted as she jumped off Lorenz’s horse, “You told us the professor was dead!”

“But your explaining must wait until the end of this battle, Claude.” Lorenz added, making the younger woman glare at him, “For now, we must focus all our effort in ensuring that none of these riff raffs escape with those stolen goods!”

Hilda maneuvered her wyvern so that she was right next to Claude as she whispered, “Is it just me or does Lorenz actually look handsome right now?”

He shook his head as he whispered back, “It’s not just you, my sweet Hilda. I think our dear poor Lorenz finally realized what a mirror is used for.”

They both snickered while Leonie shouted at them, “Hey, you two! Would you focus!? They’re trying to escape through the north exit!”

“Lysithea!” They all turned towards her voice where she was in the middle of a heated battle between the thieves and her father’s mercenaries. She aimed her sword at the running thieves as she ordered, “Cut them off!”

Her eyes met Claude’s and he nodded, understanding what she wanted him to do.

“Wha-!” The talented warlock’s eyes widened as she explained in an annoyed frantic voice, “Even with the added range of Thyrsus, I can- Ah!”

Lysithea yelped as Claude’s wyvern bumped into her, making her lose her balance. He placed a hand on her back and on the back of her knees before he lifted her into his wyvern as he said with a wink, “Just prepare your spell. I’ll take you there!”

Lysithea spluttered for a few seconds before groaning, “Ugh! You and the professor are up to your weird tactics again!”

She held Thyrsus in front of the wyvern and closed her eyes as a huge magic circle appear in front of the relic. Claude flew his wyvern on top of the fleeing thieves, easily overtaking them. Once he was by the northern exit, he turned his wyvern around and let it fly above the exit as he said, “Now, Lysithea.”

The white-haired young woman opened her eyes and held the Gloucester relic with her two hands as she aimed it to the ground.

The magic circle flew towards the ground. Once the magic circle slammed against the ground, it shattered like glass. A second later, huge dark spikes erupted from ground, originating where the shards have fallen, managing to skewer one of the thieves while keeping the rest from exiting through the north.

Except two thieves who managed to run towards the exit before the eruption of Lysithea’s spell. 

One was taken out by an arrow aimed at the chest while the other screamed as his legs were encased in ice. 

Both Claude and Lysithea turned towards the exit and their eyes widened as they saw three figures ran towards them. 

“Sorry we’re late, guys!” Raphael said before cheerfully adding as he punched his open palm lightly, “If you guys are fighting, I’ll help out!”

“Today was supposed to be a happy day, but the monastery is in such disrepair…” Ignatz commented from behind Raphael and his eyes shone with determination as he added, "We have so much to chat about but first let’s handle these criminals.”

Right next to Ignatz, Marianne met Claude’s eyes as she said softly, “I’m so glad you’re safe, Claude.”

She looked at the ground as she whispered, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t find him all these years.”

Claude smiled at them and cheerfully replied instead, “Hey, you’re late! Hurry up and help!”

Her eyes widened and she looked up towards the dark-haired man. Seeing his smile, her lips curved into a grateful smile as she nodded, “Mmhm.”

Turning back to the remaining thieves, Claude thought out loud, “Hm, we could split into two groups. If we hit them from the north and south, we can trap their leader in a pincer attack.”

He nodded and turned towards the three, “Raphael, Marianne, Ignatz, you guys take care of the thieves on the northwestern side. Lysithea and I will take care of this side!”

“Got it!” Raphael said while Marianne silently nodded and Ignatz replied, “Okay!”

With the two sides covered, it wasn’t long before they managed to route out the rest of the thieves until all that was left was the leader. 

“No, I’m not the one you want!” The leader shouted but Teach paid him no mind, rushing towards him. He held his sword with both hands as he shouted, “Gah! I guess I’ve got no choice.”

Claude watched as she stepped to the side to evade the leader’s lousy attack before slicing his head clean off. As the head rolled away from the body that crumpled to the ground, she slashed her sword in front of her, taking the blood off its blade while not even a speck of blood was on her.

Before anyone could celebrate, Leonie shouted, “Three of them are escaping!”

From the other side of where their professor was, three thieves, each with a sack filled with stolen goods, ran towards the southeastern exit as one of them, who looked a lot like the thief the mint-haired woman just executed, shouted, “Run faster, you idiots!”

“So, he revealed his true identity.” Claude commented before ordering, “Catch him and recover the treasure!”

Unfortunately, they had clustered around the center. The nearest one was Leonie and, even with her horse galloping towards the running thieves, she wasn’t going to be able to stop them from leaving.

That’s when Lysithea placed her hand on his chest, making him blink as he stared at her. Her lips were curved into a smug smirk as she said, “Go get them, leader.”

Claude felt the air in his lungs leave him as the entire world turned to dark. The next thing he knew, he was standing right at the exit with the three thieves rushing towards him with their swords raised as their leader shouted, “Ah, you should yield me a tidy profit!”

Claude evaded the clumsy attacks and nocked an arrow. He shot one right between the eyes but the two remaining thieves charged him before he could nock another arrow. Their leader nicked his left cheek but before the other could stab him, he was cut by a gust of wind from behind Claude. Claude turned around and his eyes widened as he recognized the red-haired and brown-haired woman behind him.

“It’s over, thieves!” Annette shouted as she readied another spell, a magic circle appearing on her raised hand.

He felt the warm magic of a healing spell as his small cut knitted itself together while Mercedes smiled at him, “Oh! I haven’t seen any of you in such a long time! I’m so glad to see you’re alive.”

His lips curved into a smile and he nocked another arrow, aiming at the leader. Annette’s spell caused arrows of lights to appear above the leader, raining down at him in an alarming speed. He managed to evade them just as Claude calculated and shot him right between the eyes. 

As the leader and the last of the thieves fell to the ground, the sun began to rise once more. 

While his battalion was making sure that there were no stragglers, Claude watched as Jeralt’s mercenaries surround the Golden Deer’s professor, loudly calling her name and patting her on the shoulder or the head. Some even hugged her and twirled her around. All of them were happy to see her and some even cried. 

On the other hand, his fellow Golden Deer students were staring at him with varying degrees of anger and confusion.

It was Hilda who spoke first, “Claude, why is the professor alive?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m really, really happy she’s alive but…” The pink-haired woman’s words stopped as she stared at him with pain in her eyes, “You said she died.”

“And we believed you!” Lysithea added, glaring at Claude.

“If you’ve been hiding the Professor this entire time and lied to us…” Leonie’s tone made it clear that she was trying to keep herself from shouting at him as well.

“Please tell us the truth, Claude.” Marianne begged softly, her eyes trained on the ground as she whispered, “If we had known she was alive, if Dimitri had known…”

“Yeah!” Annette nodded, her eyes filled with unshed tears as she said, “If His Highness had known that she was alive then maybe he and Dedue-!”

“That is enough.” Lorenz cut her off yet his tone was soft as he reminded everyone, “We are going on the assumption that Claude did know that the professor was alive all this time. Before we start talking about what ifs, let us first give Claude a chance to explain himself.”

“Lorenz is right.” Mercedes nodded as she agreed.

“But Mercie-”

“Annie, we don’t know anything yet.” Mercedes reminded her best friend, placing a gentle hand on her back as she said, “I know you think that Claude betrayed Dimitri’s trust.”

“All of our trust. But we should give him a chance to explain himself first before we throw all of these accusations.” Mercedes added and no one objected yet she stared at Claude with an open expression as she asked, “Please, Claude, could you tell us the truth?”

At those words, everyone turned to stare at him once more.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to say but he was nonetheless relieved when they all heard her say, “It’s not Claude’s fault.”

Their professor walked towards them, stopping next to Claude. She stared at all of them and smiled softly as she said, “You’ve all grown up.”

“Professor.” Tears fell from Hilda’s eyes and she placed her hands on her mouth to muffle the sound that came out of her lips as she started to weep.

“Professor!” Lysithea ran towards her and threw her arms around the older woman. Teach wasn’t expecting it and took a step back as she tried to stop herself from falling. 

The mint-haired woman returned the younger woman’s embrace and rested her cheek against the crown of her head as she whispered, “Please don’t cry, Lysithea.”

“I’m not crying!” The white-haired woman’s voice was muffled by the professor’s impressive chest but everyone could hear her sniffing and see her shoulders tremble. 

“Oh, Professor!” Annette joined in, hugging both women as she rested her head on the older woman’s shoulder. She didn’t hide the fact that she was crying as she said, “I’m so happy that you’re alive!”

At the sight of the two women crying, Hilda finally gave in and cried earnestly as she hugged all three women, “I’ve missed you so much, Professor!”

Seeing Marianne crying, Ignatz took her hand gently and dragged her towards their professor. Teach raised her head to smile at them and Ignatz couldn’t stop the tears anymore. Both of them joined in hugging their professor with Marianne between Hilda and Ignatz, pressing against Lysithea’s back. Ignatz sniffed as he said, “Professor, I-I… I’m so glad that you’re alive, Professor.”

Their professor rested her forehead against Marianne’s as the blue-haired woman whispered, “I prayed each day… I prayed to the goddess that you… you… oh, Professor!”

She was momentarily surprised when she felt someone hugged her from behind. Leonie pressed her forehead against the nape of her neck as she whispered, “I have a lot of questions but, right now, I’m just… I… Thank you, Professor. Thank you for being alive.”

“This is absolutely unnec-” Lorenz’ words were cut off as he was squished against his professor’s side right next to Ignatz as Raphael’s huge frame held almost all of them. He hugged them all tightly as he said cheerfully, “It won’t be complete without you, Lorenz! Plus, group hugs are the best, right Professor?”

Their professor chuckled before nodding, smiling at Lorenz who looked away. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around his fellow students as he whispered, “We’re… we’re all glad that you are safe, Professor.”

“Raphael is right. This is a joyous occasion.” Mercedes said, embracing the professor from Annette’s side before turning towards Claude, “And it won’t be complete without the Golden Deer’s house leader, wouldn’t you say?”

He blinked at Mercedes for a few minutes before grinning. Noticing what he was planning, Lorenz warned, “Claude, don’t you dar-!”

“Too late!” Claude shouted before he jumped them from behind, making them yelp as they fell to the ground.

Many of them shouted at Claude but he paid them no mind, staring at Teach who turned to glare at him before she started to laugh. At the sight of their professor laughing, everyone else forgot their annoyance with Claude and joined in as well. 

And Claude smiled so brightly for the first time in the past five years. 

They stayed on the ground until his battalion came back to inform them they have confirmed that all the thieves have been dealt with. He let his battalion carry the stolen goods back to the monastery while he joined the rest of his friends in walking back instead with the exception of Leonie and Lorenz who rode their horses while Lysithea sat behind Leonie and Marianne sat behind Lorenz. Hilda had pretty much dragged their professor to ride with her on her wyvern while Claude let both Mercedes and Annette ride his. Jeralt’s mercenaries were walking a few feet behind them, giving them privacy by loudly chatting with one another and even an occasional scandalous song that made Marianne blush and Lorenz look at them scandalously while Leonie and their professor chuckle. He even heard someone hum along at one of them but he wasn’t sure if it had been Leonie or the stoic mint-haired woman.

Along the way back to the monastery, Teach explained what has happened in the past five years.

The explanation she gave them was quite similar to what truly happened but removed all the divinity aspect to it. 

“So, let me see if I got it right.” There was a hint of skepticism in Leonie’s voice as she summarized what she just heard, “You fell into the cliff and someone found you floating in the river. But you wouldn’t wake up until yesterday so they cared for you this entire time? Is that even possible?”

“Um…” There was a hint of confidence in Marianne’s voice as she explained, “I have seen it happen before. It’s usually due to a heavy blow on the head. The healers I traveled with call it ‘Death’s Sleep’ as all we could do to those who suffer from it is to look after them.”

She lowered her eyes as she recalled, “They would either wake up on their own or die in their sleep.”

Everyone grew silent as they tried to process what the blue-haired woman just explained. A few moments later, Raphael grinned as he said, “Then it’s a good thing the Professor woke up, right?”

“Y-yes!” Ignatz agreed with a nod, smiling at the mint-haired woman, “And just in time for the millennium festival too.”

“Truly this could be nothing else but the goddess’ blessing.” Lorenz commented with a smile. Claude and Teach’s eyes met for a second at the reminder of the vanished goddess. 

“We should visit the person who helped you, Professor!” Annette suggested with a smile.

“Oh, yes! We must thank them for caring for our dear professor all this time.” Mercedes added with a nod.

Claude met her eyes for a second once more before she shook her head as she said, “They don’t want anything to do with this war. That’s the only thing they asked of me before I left.”

“I’m not surprised.” Lysithea frowned as she explained, “If they’re near here then they’re in the middle of all three factions. It would be a good thing if the ones who knows they helped you were from the alliance or kingdom but if it was the empire or one of the pro-imperial alliance nobles or nobles from the Faerghus dukedom…”

Lorenz visibly winced at the mention of the pro-imperial alliance nobles but Hilda quickly suggested with a smile, “Then we better win this war soon so we can thank them!” 

“Yeah!” Leonie agreed, “Once we win this war, they won’t have to be afraid anymore.”

“We are planning to fight back right, Claude?” Ignatz asked, turning to stare at the leader of the Leicester Alliance. At Ignatz’s question, they all turned to look at the dark-haired duke. 

Claude raised his head to stare at the monastery just a few meters away from them as he declared, “We’ll use Garreg Mach as our base of operation.” 

He lowered his head to stare at all of this companions as he explained, “After all, the monastery is right in the middle of Fodlan. It’s a critical strategic location.”

“Aren’t we getting a bit ahead of ourselves?” Lorenz asked with a slight frown on his face. He stared at Claude as he reminded him, “The Alliance is in complete disarray.”

“And…” Claude rebutted as he stared back at the purple-haired noble, “As the leader of the Imperial faction on the Alliance, isn’t Count Gloucester, your father, the main cause of that discord?”

“I…” Lorenz didn’t complete his sentence. Instead, he nodded grimly as he agreed, “Yes, that is true.” 

“It is inevitable. Our house territory is close to Imperial land, after all.” He explained. His tone was informative, not defensive which mildly surprised a few of their companions, “Had we not consented to vassalage under the Empire, they would have invaded immediately.”

“Naturally.” Claude agreed casually, surprising everyone, most especially Lorenz. His lips curved into a small smile as he clarified, “And, to be clear, I have no problem with your house maintaining its Imperial ties until we’re sufficiently prepared to revolt.” 

He turned to stare at everyone as he explained, “The Empire is the cause of the infighting. If we rid ourselves of them, the situation should resolve itself.” 

They finally reached the gates to the monastery and Claude stopped before they could enter. Everyone stopped and turned to stare at him as he continued, “That’s why I’m thinking we should make this our base, raise up an army and stir up some trouble for the Empire.” 

Raphael was the first to agree, grinning as he said excitedly, “Now you’re talking! Sounds like fun!”

Hilda’s lips curved into a fond smile as she asked, “So then. Mister Leader Man.” 

There was a hint of playfulness in her voice as she asked, “Does this mean you intend to rope us into your little scheme?”

“Oh, that’s right! Claude is the leader of the Alliance now.” Annette said out loud, blushing slightly as she said, “Sorry, Claude. I forgot.”

“That’s not really surprising considering the current state of the Alliance.” Lorenz sighed and shook his head as he commented, “If we had a more reliable leader, perhaps the Alliance would not have been divided.”

“Think what you will.” He said to Lorenz seriously before addressing everyone, “All I need to know is if you’re in or you’re out.”

Leonie was the first to reply, dismounting from her horse as she said, “I’m happy to lend a hand.” 

Her eyes shone with determination as she explained, “I won’t let those Imperial dogs set foot in Alliance territory! I couldn’t bear it if my village got caught up in the chaos of war.” 

At the reminder of her village, Raphael was next to agree, “I’ll fight too! I’ve gotta protect my little sis!”

“I will join as well.” Lysithea said as she jumped off Leonie’s horse. Her face was grim as she explained, “After all, House Ordelia was once dragged into an Imperial revolt. It ruined us.”

Lorenz’s voice was soft as he dismounted, “Ah, of course. I understand your motivation.”

Ignatz was the next to speak up, smiling slightly as he said, “I think a lot of us are all ready to fight back. And…” 

Ignatz’s tone was clear as he announced, “It’s time to take responsibility for my own future.”

“I…” Marianne’s voice was soft as she placed her hands together, “I spent these past years seeing the horror this war has brought upon the land. I… I want to help.” 

“Would you look at that?” Hilda rested her head against the top of her wyvern’s head as she commented while staring at Marianne while Lorenz helped her dismount from his horse, “Our dear Marianne is all grown up.”

The blue-haired woman blushed as she said, “Please don’t tease me, Hilda.”

“But you’re so cute it’s hard not to.” Hilda cooed before turning towards the man next to Marianne as she asked, “What about you, Lorenz? Are you going to go back home to your scary father or what?”

Lorenz stared at Hilda for a moment before replying, “We cannot rely on Claude’s scheming to lead us to victory.” 

“Not to mention…” He turned his gaze at the two women riding the wyvern as he added, “You and the professor tend to agree to Claude’s plan most of the time.”

“Not always.” Hilda pouted, turning towards the woman riding behind her, “Right, Professor?”

“Only when Claude’s plan would actually work.” Their professor defended and both women gave similar smiles at Lorenz as they dismounted Hilda’s wyvern.

Seeing the women’s smiles, Lorenz declared, “Therefore, I will remain. It is my duty to ensure that Claude does not worsen the situation in the Alliance.” 

Claude nodded at them before saying, “All of us are fighting for a different reason but we share a common enemy.” 

At those words, he turned to stare at the two former Blue Lion students who got off his wyvern with the help of Lorenz and Leonie, “And, of course, it’s a common enemy we share with Faerghus as well.”

“Whether we’re in the Alliance or the Kingdom, we’re all in the same boat.” He said before addressing everyone once more, noticing that Hilda and their professor had walked towards his side, “If we don’t act, the Empire will crush us eventually. I say we stop them before they have the chance!”

“So, Teach…” He stared at her as he asked, “Will you help as well?”

Her light green eyes glanced at the two non-Golden Deer women before she said, “I…”

Before she could continue what she was about to say, someone called out from inside the monastery, “Lord Lorenz!”

They turned towards where the voice had originated and a knight from House Gloucester briskly walked towards them, “Milord, forgive me for intruding but… well, it’s the Knights of Seiros, milord.”

“The Knights of Seiros?” Lorenz repeated, turning his head to glance at Claude who nodded.

“They were bound to show up sooner or later.” The dark-haired duke commented before shrugging, “Well, better not make them wait. Are they in the cathedral?”

“Huh, y-yes, sir.” The knight seemed surprised that Claude knew what was happening already but the duke paid it no mind.

“We better talk to them and find out what they know, right?” He asked and everyone nodded. They began to walk inside but Claude stopped their profesor from joining by grabbing her wrist gently. Only Hilda noticed as she was right next to her so she stopped as well while the mint-haired woman tilted her head silently with a curious expression on her face. 

“Sorry, Teach. I just…” He glanced at their comrades who kept on walking, his eyes stopping at Annette and Mercedes who were talking to both Lysithea and Marianne as they walked.

“I know that you’re worried about Dimitri.” He said as he returned his attention to her. He saw her straightened slightly and her face became emotionless once more but he continued, “We all are. Annette and Mercedes didn’t say anything but I’m sure they’re here for a reason other than our promise five years ago.”

“I won’t be surprised if they’re actually here to ask that you come back to Faerghus. With your skills and relationship with Dimitri, the Blaiddyd loyalists would certainly gain much if they got you on their side.” He grimly stated, making Hilda’s eyes widened, before confessing wholeheartedly, “But I truly believe that the best way to finding Dimitri is by taking out the empire first. Once the empire is out of the way, the Faerghus dukedom would lose their imperial support and the Alliance would be in a more stable status to provide aid to the loyalists. Also, once we defeat the empire, it would become easy to conduct a country-wide search for both Dimitri and Dedue.” 

“And considering that Rhea has appointed you as her successor, the church will join whichever faction you choose to support.” Claude added, laying everything out in the open, “Whichever faction the church supports would give that faction a moral cause, making it easier to receive support. But, Teach…”

“The empire is the bigger threat in this war. If we don’t strike them soon, they would be able to rally their troops and change their deployments in various territories, including the imperial troops they lent to the Faerghus dukedom.” He knew that his next words would be manipulating her feelings but he also knew that she would understand what he’s trying to say, “The fastest way to find Dimitri is to take down the empire. Without the empire, the dukedom will lose a significant amount of power and Dimitri would be safe from both the dukedom and the empire.”

“And, above all, your knowledge and strength are indispensable if we hope to stand a chance against the Imperial army.” He admitted, his darker green eyes staring straight into her lighter green eyes, “Without you, my schemes are nothing. Just words.” 

He let go of her wrist and instead offered his hand to her as his heart ache, remembering the time he had offered the same hand to the man whose name he was now using for his own gain, “Together, we can end this war quickly, Teach. Then we can go search for Dimitri…”

“Together.”

She stared at her for a full minute and Claude wanted to squirm at her stoic expression but managed to stop himself, keeping his eyes trained on her. She raised her hand but didn’t take his, instead to raise it until it was by his cheek.

He winced when she flicked his ear as she said fondly, “Idiot.” 

“Really, Teach?” Claude groaned as he rubbed his ear, “I pour my heart out and you insult me?”

Her lips curved into a fond smile and she placed her hand over the hand by his ear as she admitted, “I am worried about Dimitri, that’s true, but you’re still my students. You, Hilda, and everyone in Golden Deer are my fawns. Of course I’ll do everything in my power to help you all.”

She closed her eyes as she said, “As your professor, as your friend…”

She opened her eyes and smiled softly at Claude as she said, “And as your family.”

His lips trembled and he smiled back, “Thank you, Abje.”

“Abje?” She repeated, tilting her head slightly.

He blushed lightly as he explained, “It means ‘sister’.”

“O-oh.” Her lips curved into a pleased smile as she added, “I’ve always wanted a younger sibling.”

Her smile became teasing as she added, “I guess you’ll have to do.”

“Oh, come on, Teach.” He chuckled lightly.

“I’m back to Teach now, am I?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Abje is only for special occasions.” He said with a nod.

“This is all so sweet and heartwarming, truly.” Hilda said sweetly and they both turned towards her. She smiled and tilted her head slightly as she commented, “It would have been so much sweeter if we weren’t in the middle of all these rumbles, you know? This place is a mess. We can’t very well make our base in a ruin!” 

Hilda sighed and placed her index finger against her cheek as she said, “And repairing it sounds like a lot of work…” 

“I wonder if anyone would be willing to help us out with that?” The pink-haired Goneril mused, making both Claude and their professor smile.

“Knowing you, Hilda, I’m sure we’ll find someone soon enough.” Claude commented, making their profesor chuckle.

They did find someone to help with the cleaning up and the monastery was starting to look like its former glory. Many someones, in fact, as Claude and Hilda tagteamed into making the knights feel guilty over leaving Garreg Mach.

And, just as Claude had predicted, the Knights of Seiros immediately bowed down to the Golden Deer’s professor and joined forces with them. He still can’t call them an army though. Not counting the Knights of Seiros and their battalions, they only had his Immortal Corp battalion, Jeralt’s mercenaries, the battalion of Gloucester Knights that accompanied Lorenz and was loyal to him, and the Ordelia Sorcery Co. battalion Lysithea had received from her parents. The two ordered their battalions to stay in the monastery while they checked out the abandoned town to make sure that the monastery was secure. Annette and Mercedes didn’t have any battalions with them but they had sent a letter a week ago addressed to Felix and a magic squadron battalion from the Kingdom arrived in Garreg Mach a day ago together with a letter addressed to their professor. 

Curious about the letter, Claude decided to look for Teach later that evening after dinner. 

He finally found her in the greenhouse, standing in front of the flowerbed where anemones used to bloom. The anemones have long died out and all of the usable soil were being used to grow fruits and vegetables. Right now, the flowerbed she was standing in front of were growing potatoes and the flowers of these potatoes were blooming. By tomorrow morning, all of these flowers would be removed to ensure that the potato would be larger and healthier. 

Claude walked inside the greenhouse and stopped next to the mint-haired woman, turning to face her. She was holding the letter in her hands and was deep in thought. He turned to face the flowers and waited for her to finish. When he saw her turn to face him from the corner of his eyes, he turned as well and asked, “Good news?”

“Not really.” She replied, folding the letter as she explained, “It’s from Rodrigue.”

“Duke Fraldarius?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded before informing him, “Dimitri introduced us a year… I mean, five years ago. He was like a second father to Dimitri and he cared for Dimitri like a son.”

“What did he have to say?” He asked curiously.

“He apologized for not being able to send reinforcement and he gave me a brief summary on what’s happening in Faerghus at the moment.” She replied, making him blink.

“Really? That’s a bit surprising.” He admitted, rubbing his chin as he commented, “I mean, you two met once and now he’s sending you reports?”

“Well…” She stared at him as she said solemnly, “There is something I need to tell you, Claude.”

“Is it about the Sword of the Creator?” Claude asked, more curious about the letter now that she was trying to change the subject. He let her though as he was also curious why she wasn’t wielding the Sword of the Creator ever since they reunited.

“Hm?” She blinked at him twice before lowering her head to look at her hips, “Oh, right.”

She raised her head to stare at him as she informed him, “I lost it.”

They stared at each other for a few moments.

Before Claude finally repeated loudly in a ludicrous tone, “You lost it?!”

She sighed as she nodded before explaining, “When I woke up, it wasn’t anywhere near me. I asked the man who found me if he saw it but he said no.”

“You lost… the Sword of the Creator?” Claude repeated once more, making her nod silently.

“I need to sit down.” He said before sitting on the ground. He took a deep breath as she sat next to him. He stared at the flowers in front of them as he thought out loud, “It makes sense since you dropped the sword five years ago. It probably drifted away. Best case scenario, one of our allies found it and is keeping it safe. Good case scenario, it’s either lost somewhere no one can find it or in the hands of someone who doesn’t know what it is. Worst case scenario, our enemy has it.”

“You don’t think the empire has it, do you?” She asked, frowning.

“The empire having it would be a bad scenario. We shouldn’t forget about Kronya’s group.” Claude reminded her. He recognized the hate in her eyes at the name of her father’s killer but pressed on, “We know they’re working with Edelgard but we can’t be sure that they’re part of the empire or they’re an altogether different faction that is just working with the empire.”

Claude frowned slightly as he added, “Solon pretty much implied that they were interested in the Sword of the Creator.”

She sighed and turned to face the flowers as well as she said, “I’m sorry, Claude. I…”

She closed her eyes as she admitted, “I didn’t really think of it that much since I woke up. There were just… more important things to think about.”

His eyes softened, understanding what she meant, and he turned his head to stare at her as he whispered, “I’m sorry, Abje.”

She opened her eyes and tilted her head towards him in a silent question which he answered, “I… no, we searched for five years but we still couldn’t find Dimitri. I’m sorry for failing you.”

Her grip on the letter in her hands tightened and she shook her head as she said, “It’s not your fault, Claude. It’s nobody’s fault.”

“But-”

“Dimitri’s alright.” She said with much conviction that it surprised him. She covered her right hand with her left and rubbed the skin where her fingers and palm met with her right thumb as she explained, “He’s strong and he has Dedue with him. Wherever they are, I believe they’re alright.”

She smiled softly at him as she said, “And I also believe that everything’s going to be alright in the end, Claude.”

“Byleth!” They turned towards the entrance and one of Jeralt’s mercenaries rushed inside. He blinked when he saw Claude before saying, “Oh, good. You’re here too!”

“What’s wrong?” Teach’s voice was clear and void of any emotions as she turned to face the older man with a stoic expression on her face.

“Imperial troops are marching right to us.” He explained, “Seteth has ordered us to mobilize so we can intercept them before they can enter the monastery.”

“Okay.” She nodded at the mercenary and began walking out of the greenhouse as she called out, “Let’s go, Claude.”

“Got it, Teach.” He replied as he walked right beside her, leaving the privacy of the greenhouse and into another battlefield.

The defense of Garreg Mach wasn’t really anything to note. 

They managed to stop them from entering the monastery and his fire attack had worked due to Raphael and Alois luring the main bulk of the imperial troops to the designated area with their loud (and cheerful) taunts. They were also able to cut off anyone from fleeing by having Catherine and Shamir go around and attack them from behind with Annette and Mercedes acting as their magical support. Catherine took care of the ground units and Mercedes healed her whenever necessary or provided magical support using fire spells while Shamir and Annette obliterated the air units with their arrows and wind spells. 

But this also showed them that they were in dire need of more soldiers and supplies. If it took them this many personnels to keep the monastery safe, they would need more if they plan to attack any imperial stronghold while keeping the monastery as their base of operation. Because of this, they decided to ask for reinforcements from House Daphnel. House Daphnel was a member of the anti-imperial faction and he personally knew the head of House Daphnel Judith von Daphnel, also known as the Hero of Daphnel. Annette had also sent a letter addressed to Felix once more but, considering the regular skirmishes the Blaiddyd loyalists had with Cornelia’s Faerghus dukedom, they weren’t really holding their breath for a positive reply from the loyalists. 

Judith had agreed to provide them with more soldiers and had suggested they meet up in Ailell, the Valley of Torment. It was a good idea as the valley was between Galatea and Daphnel territories, two well-known anti-imperial territories. 

It was also horribly, uncomfortably hot.

Uncomfortable was not even enough to describe what they were all feeling at the moment.

Teach had tried taking off her coat which Annette and Hilda had stopped, much to her annoyance. Claude had jokingly suggested Marianne used Blizzard to bring some cool air which made Seteth scold him for ‘wasting precious resources’. 

Annette did cast Wind once and they got a blast of hot air for their troubles which only made everyone grumpier. 

It made sense in hindsight since all Wind-type spells used the air around them, so if the air is hot, it would stand to reason that the wind spell would be hot as well.

All-in-all, everyone was certainly in a bad mood when they got ambushed by knights from House Rowe, a known supporter of the Faerghus dukedom.

He wasn’t sure if this meant that the letter Annette had sent was intercepted (possible but doubtful as Claude had personally picked the best messenger from House Riegan), someone in the Blaiddyd loyalists faction was a spy (likely) or someone in House Daphnel was a spy (also likely) or someone in their Alliance army was a spy (also likely). 

Regardless of where the information had been leaked, the fact remained that they now had to engage knights from House Rowe in the middle of a valley filled with lava and burning craters they could accidentally stepped on. 

The good news was that the craters also stopped the mounted knights from mowing them down with their horses. The bad news was that it stopped their own mounted units as well. They had more flying units than House Rowe but the enemies also had battalions of snipers on their side so they had to proceed with caution.

They decided on splitting their units into two groups and take the leader down with a pincer attack. Claude would lead their flying units around as they would have better mobility and could travel faster.

It would have worked but then House Rowe received reinforcement, blocking Claude’s advancement. 

Things began to look dire as they were pinned down by the continuous rain of arrows that their wyverns desperately tried to dodge.

“CYRIL!” He heard Hilda cry out and his eyes widened as he saw Cyril’s wyvern trash in mid-air as arrows skewer its hide. 

Cyril’s grip on his wyvern faltered and Claude acted on instinct as he saw the young man start to fall. 

His wyvern flew towards the falling boy as fast as it could but the continuous dodging they had to do to not get hit by the arrows kept the wyvern from gaining enough momentum.

Claude could only watch in horror as Cyril began to fall straight into the lava below.

Then a horse came galloping out of nowhere and jumped towards the lava itself while it's rider caught Cyril in his arms. 

The horse used the floating rocks in the lava to cross towards the safe ground so quickly that Claude actually had a hard time keeping it in his sights. 

Once the horse crossed the lava, it galloped straight towards the snipers and Claude finally caught a clear sight of the rider as he heard Cyril shout, “Ashe?!”

Ashe rushed passed the snipers, aiming his bow into the sky as he fired right into the air once he was in the middle of the snipers who could only dodge away from the lone bow knight.

The tip of the arrow he shot to the sky was glowing brightly and Claude realized that the tip was made of crystal. The glow it emitted was similar to the glow of the lighting crystal Ignatz had used when he had started his study of Reason magic. 

A moment later, when Ashe’s horse was far away from the snipers, a rain of arrows fell down on the snipers’ position, decimating them completely as Ashe pulled the reins of his horse, forcing it to stop right in front of Claude.

“Hey, everyone.” The grey-haired knight greeted with a smile, “It’s good to see you all again.”

“Good to se-” Hilda’s wyvern circled on top of Ashe for a moment before landing right in front of him, making Claude’s wyvern flew out of the way, as she asked in a ludicrous tone, “What do you feed your horse?! How was it able to do all that movements?!”

“O-o-oh, that?” Ashe rubbed the back of his head as his cheeks turned pink, “Well, Faerghus has a lot of uneven terrain so we train our horses to be able to cross them as safely as possible. It’s really nothing special.”

Hilda turned to stare at Claude with wide eyes and he knew she was trying to silently ask him just how dangerous was Faerghus’ terrain for their horses doing crazy death-defying stunts in such a speed would be considered ‘nothing special’.

Claude was just wondering if Sylvain had been holding out all these time when he sparred with Lorenz while both of them were mounted. 

A moment later, a battalion of bow knights galloped towards them and one of them called out, “Sir Ashe, your orders?”

Ashe’s kind expression became grim as he turned towards his battalion and ordered, “We will be following Duke Riegan’s orders for now! The enemies are members of House Rowe! They have betrayed House Blaiddyd by bowing down to those imperial dogs and we shall make them an example of what happens to those who betray House Blaiddyd!”

“Yes, sir!” The battalion shouted loudly.

Ashe turned back towards Claude and Hilda and smiled once more as he said, “I’ll follow your orders for now, Claude. I’m not as good as the other knights yet but I’ll do my best to help.”

“And we should be going. The professor would most probably be already fighting Gwendal.” Seteth reminded them before turning towards Cyril, “Cyril, Flayn has your wyvern. It’s heavily wounded but she’s sure it will recover.”

“That’s good.” Cyril said as he sighed in relief.

Seteth turned towards Claude as he informed him, “Flayn will return with the wounded if that’s alright with you, Claude?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Also, tell Flayn that she should warn Catherine and Manuela that there may be a spy in the monastery. We don’t know where the leak came from but it would be better if we start having our meetings in a more secure location.” Claude said, making Seteth nod, obviously already had the same conclusion as Claude. 

“I will tell her now.” Seteth turned towards Cyril and asked, “Would you like to accompany them back to the monastery, Cyril?”

“No, I’d like to stay and help.” Cyril turned towards Claude and asked, “Maybe I can sit with one of your wyvern riders? I can still use my bow.”

Claude grinned as he said, “Come on, Cyril, hop on. You can back me up.”

The young Almyran’s face shone with determination as he said, “Thanks, Claude. I won’t let you down.”

Claude maneuvered his wyvern so it was right next to Ashe’s horse and Cyril jumped off the horse towards Claude’s wyvern. Once the young man was secured behind him, Claude ordered, “Let’s go!”

By the time they reached Teach, the battle was almost over. He was surprised to see Judith in the midst of the battlefield, attacking Rowe’s greatest knight, Gwendal, together with their professor. The sky was filled with House Rowe’s Pegasus Knights and a lone battalion of Pegasus Knights that weren’t theirs. He saw Ashe and his bow knight battalion rushed to assist the other Pegasus Knights so he assumed they were also part of the reinforcement from the loyalists.

Trusting that Teach had it under control, he and Seteth rushed to aid their Pegasus Knights allies while Hilda supported their ground units.

Amidst the battle, one of the Pegasus Knights impaled an enemy Pegasus Knight that was rushing Claude’s wyvern and both Almyran’s lips curved into a smile when they recognize the rider.

“Hey, Ingrid. You look good.” Claude jokingly said with a wink.

“And you’re the same as always, Claude.” Ingrid chuckled softly, knowing that the dark-haired man was joking. She blinked when she noticed the young man riding behind Claude and said, “Cyril, is that you? By the goddess, you’ve certainly grown!”

“It’s good to see you too, Ingrid.” Cyril replied, smiling at the Pegasus Knight.

“Let’s catch up once we take care of all these party crashers, okay?” Claude casually said, making both of them nod.

“We’ll follow your and the Professor’s orders for now, Claude.” Ingrid said seriously, “Please don’t hesitate to order us.”

“I’ll take you up on that order.” Claude nodded and pointed at the mages supporting Gwendal from the north, “Take your Pegasus Knights and take those mages out from behind. Once Gwendal is oit of the picture, the rest should surrender or retreat. We’ll keep the enemy fliers busy.” 

“Understood!” Ingrid nodded and clicked her tongue, ordering her pegasus to move. 

As Ingrid flew away from them, Claude couldn’t help but shout, “You look nice with short hair, Ingrid!”

Ingrid laughed and turned around to shout back, “And the beard looks nice on you too, Claude!”

Feeling Cyril staring at him with a disappointed look, he defended, “What? It does look nice.”

Cyril rolled his eyes and said instead, “Let’s finish this first, okay?”

Claude laughed and commented cheerfully, “You need to loosen up a bit, Cyril.”

Instead of replying to him, Cyril ordered the older man’s wyvern.

In Almyran…

Claude was momentarily surprised as the wyvern did as Cyril commanded, turning to stare at the young man. Cyril only raised an eyebrow at him and Claude chuckled before joining the fight once more.

Once Ingrid’s Pegasus Knights had taken care of the mages, Gwendal was easily overpowered by both Judith and their professor.

However, Gwendal refused to surrender even though he was heavily injured, his horse was already gone and the rest of his soldiers that weren’t dead had either retreated or surrendered.

Claude respected the man but he also thought of him as a fool. Looking at the faces of their allies from the kingdom, he realized that they understood why Gwendal would rather choose death than to surrender. 

Teach placed her hand on Judith’s shoulder, stopping her from attacking Gwendal once more. Judith turned towards her and she whispered something Claude couldn’t hear but whatever she said made Judith nod at her before sheathing her rapier and stepping back.

The mint-haired woman sheathed her sword as well and ordered, “Ashe, I need to borrow your sword.”

“Yes, Professor!” Ashe’s horse galloped towards her and he presented his sword to her. She took it and Claude could see that it wasn’t just a normal silver sword. He could barely see it from where he was but Ashe and Ingrid had told him before that when a knight was dubbed in Faerghus, they would receive a silver sword with the Faerghus coat of arms on the rain guard. Some knight orders would also have a lion’s or a wolf’s head on the pommel. From where he was standing, he could see that the pommel of Ashe’s sword was a wolf.

Gwendal readied his shield and axe as she walked calmly towards him, “I am Gwendal, the Gray Lion, a knight by the hand of Count Rowe! Do your worst!”

“Gray Lion…” Her voice was cold as she announced, “For betraying House Blaiddyd and aiding the Adestrian Empire, your punishment is death.”

Gwendal placed his shield in front of him and she raised her hand, a magic circle appearing on her palm. Gwendal shouted as lava erupted from the ground he was standing in. He dropped both his shield and sword as he fell on his knees, smoke coming from his burned armor. She stopped right in front of Gwendal and he raised his head to stare at her. She must have said something to him because Claude saw the older knight’s eyes widened before he laughed. He stared at her as he said, “Is that so? Well, there would be no greater death than this then. Go on, do your duty, you-”

He didn’t get to finish what he was going to say as she had sliced his head clean off with one horizontal slash. 

And with the death of the Gray Lion, the ambush in Ailell ended with the Alliance army’s victory.

Once they were certain that they were safe for the time being, they were finally able to talk to Judith. He would have liked it more if Judith hadn’t made those little jabs about him but he was still grateful that she had kept her promise in bringing both soldiers and supplies. He was mildly surprised by Judith’s declaration that she would be joining their army and the confirmation that Rhea was in the empire. 

But if she was, why hasn’t Edelgard announced it?

To keep the Knights of Seiros from charging straight to Enbarr perhaps?

Once it was decided that she was going with them back to the monastery (she left Daphnel territory to Nader? Seriously?), Ingrid finally spoke, “It’s good to see you again, Professor.”

They all turned to look at both Ingrid and Ashe. Their professor nodded at them as she said, “Thank you for coming to our aid, Ingrid, Ashe.”

“It was the least we can do considering the circumstances.” Ingrid replied as she bowed, “Duke Fraldarius sends his regards and would like to apologize for not being able to provide more support.”

The mint-haired woman shook her head as she said, “It’s okay, Ingrid. I understand. The protection of the borders is important.”

“Does that mean you won’t be coming with us?” Hilda asked from behind their professor with a slight frown.

“As much as it pains me to say but, yes, I’m afraid I cannot come back to the monastery with you.” Ingrid replied sadly at Hilda before turning to face Teach once more as she said, “But please do not hesitate to ask for assistance. We will do everything we can to help in anyway.”

“Thank you, Ingrid.” She nodded and took out a letter from her coat. She handed the letter Ingrid as she said, “Please give this to Rodrigue.”

“Of course, Professor. I will personally give this to Duke Fraldarius.” Ingrid took the letter and placed it inside her chest armor.

“Ingrid might not be able to come back but I’ve been given permission to stay with you.” Ashe said, blushing as he added, “I mean, if you guys are alright with that.”

“Alright with that?” Hilda repeated before giggling, “Oh, Ashe, if it means we get to keep you and your horse, we’ll happily trade Lorenz.”

“I beg your pardon?” Lorenz said scandalously, making everyone laugh.

“Relax, Lorenz, I’m just joking.” Hilda patted her friend’s back before she admitted, “But, in all seriousness, you should have seen how Ashe’s horse moved. I’m sure you’d be impressed.”

Lorenz hummed before turning his attention to Ashe as he asked, “Perhaps we can have a demonstration back in the monastery?”

“Oh, sure.” Ashe nodded as he agreed with a cheerful smile, “I’m sure my battalion would also be interested in seeing the Gloucester knights in action too.”

“Okay, before these two boys start planning their playdate…” Judith cut both of them off and turned to face Claude, “It’s about that Blaiddyd boy you’ve been looking for these past five years.”

Everyone immediately became quiet and turned to stare at Judith. She blinked at the intense reaction but didn’t call it out. Instead, she informed them, “One of our men in House Ordelia heard a rumor that a blond man and a man from Duscur were seen passing through the territory, going south.”

Lorenz’s eyes widened as he said, “South? That would mean…”

“Myrddin.” Claude said grimly, turning to stare at the mint-haired woman who was now staring at him, “He’s going to cross Myrddin to imperial territory.”

With the news (rumors) that Dimitri and Dedue were moving to Gronder Field, everyone was suddenly moving as quickly as they could. Reinforcement from House Daphnel only had a few days of rest before they were being mobilized to the Great Bridge Myrrdin. It was a risky plan but if they wanted to get to Dimitri and Dedue before they cross to imperial territory, they had to act fast.

The plan was simple. Claude had been able to contact Nader and his retainer was able to gather some men to make a few ruckus in the northern part of Gloucester territory. Ingrid was also able to quickly inform the loyalist army and the old Blue Lion students got permission to assist in the operation. They, on the other hand, attacked Gloucester territory from the west, forcing House Gloucester to recall all of their troops from Myrddin just to defend against both attacks. 

Once the troops have been recalled, the Alliance army attacked the great bridge before they could call for reinforcement from House Hrym or House Bergliez. 

The bridge was defended by a general flying a wyvern. No one really cared that much to know her name as they were all focused on getting Myrddin as soon as possible so they could catch the missing prince and his retainer before they get to imperial territory. Due to the lack of troops from House Gloucester, they were able to take control of half the bridge before Acheron appeared from behind them with some of his troops.

Lorenz was more than happy to take care of Acheron while the rest of them kept pressing forward. Claude was sure their purple-haired friend would enjoy finally removing Acheron from Leicester.

The female general was within their sights when Ferdinand appeared with reinforcement from the empire. He tried to block their path but Lysithea used her anti-cavalry spell to stop him in his tracks and Marianne used her ice spell to keep him immobilized.

No one dared to say anything about how Lysithea’s spell was weaker than usual so it only spooked Ferdinand’s horse.

With Ferdinand immobilized and the rest of the reinforcement taken out by the rain of arrows from Leonie and Ignatz, that only left the wyvern general. 

She had the skills to back up her high position but she was simply no match for their professor.

Especially right now where time was of the essence. Even without the Sword of the Creator, she was able to take her down using a silver bow and a few well-placed shots to her wyvern. 

Even when her wyvern was down, the general still continued to fight and it seemed like she had no intention to surrender.

It was unfortunate as she had been a strong and talented general but they didn’t have time to give mercy to someone who did not want to yield.

As such, she fell to the professor’s silver sword without a second thought from any of them.

With the fall of the wyvern general, they asked Ferdinand to yield who had refused.

… so they knocked him out instead.

They would reason that he was still the head of House Aegir and, while House Aegir was stripped off their nobility, he was still a valuable political hostage. 

The imperial troops who surrendered were sent to Garreg Mach together with Ferdinand. With the news of Myrddin under Alliance control, the loyalists who joined the operation met with them on the bridge.

With Duke Fraldarius of all people…

The duke had asked for permission in staying on the bridge together with a part of the loyalist army to look for their missing prince and his retainer in exchange for an official alliance with Leicester. Claude, of course, accepted the offer.

The next step would be to unite Leicester Alliance and, as such, he had asked Lysithea, Lorenz, Hilda and Marianne to return to their respective territories to talk to the head of their house. The Knights of Seiros had already left with the prisoners to ensure the security of the monastery. He suggested the rest to return as well to check things in the alliance but they had refused, asking instead to remain in Myrddin and help with the search.

He wanted to invite Teach back to Riegan territory but he knew she would refuse. She, of all the people in this bridge, had a reason to stay.

He knew it the moment he saw Duke Fraldarius give House Blaiddyd’s hero relic, Areadbhar, to her. 

Claude was sure that something was wrong with Teach. He had been receiving reports from Leonie who stayed behind in Myrddin while he and the rest of the Golden Deer students and Seteth returned to Alliance territory to get everything in order. According to Leonie, she had been getting sick daily and her movements were slower than normal.

Not to mention, more troops from the loyalist army journeyed to Myrddin as well. If they weren’t allied with the loyalists, Claude would actually consider it a ploy to invade the Leicester region. The appearance of House Galatea’s Luin and House Fraldarius’ Aegis shield and Sword of Moralta did not help at all. He was surprised the Lance of Ruin weren’t in the Gautier heir’s hands right now but he read that it was because Margrave Gautier was using it to keep their borders safe from the dukedom with the bare minimal troops. 

Once he heard the news, he had tried to get everything in the alliance in order as soon as he could. Nader had managed to get him his albino wyvern, Omar, during that time. Albino wyverns were rare in Fodlan and they were a sign of royalty in Almyra. 

Not that the people of Fodlan knew about that…

Omar was gifted to him when he was five years old and they grew up together. He had to leave Omar in Almyra when he was taken in by his grandfather but his childhood friend seemed to remember him well. Which was good as Teach (his wyvern) had just started her first heat cycle and would be incapable of flying for a month or so.

Hopefully, when they finally reunite with Dimitri, he could tell both of them the significant of the albino wyvern and his plans for the future.

When he had managed to get to Myrddin, he heard that she had joined the Blaiddyd loyalists in crossing the bridge and going to Gronder Field a day ago. Thankfully, his wyvern managed to catch up with them before they got to Gronder Field.

Unfortunately, this meant that the Alliance army was a day away from their current location which meant the Alliance army was only Hilda, Cyril, Flayn, Seteth and their battalions. If they counted Leonie, Raphael, Ignatz, Teach and their battalions, it wouldn’t even make up half of their actual number. 

He had a bad feeling about this. 

And then, when he did meet up with Teach, they informed him that they had gotten reports that Dimitri and Dedue were most probably near Gonder Field by now. 

He has no idea what Dimitri was thinking but he sure knew what he was going to say and do once he actually meets up with the dumb prince (unofficially king). 

They also received reports that the empire had amassed an army marching to Gronder Field as well, led by Edelgard herself.

Scratch that. Claude knew what Dimitri was thinking but he still didn’t understand why he was doing this.

Word of Teach’s survival should have already reached him. Even if he and Dedue were on the run, they were still in Leicester region. Even if he may have not heard of her survival, he should have at least heard about the Alliance’s movements.

If so, why hasn’t he tried to contact him at the very least?

But they were still a day away from Gronder Field so he should focus on what he could possibly fix and that would be making sure she was alright.

With Gronder Field just a day away, he had to make sure she was alright or he would personally tie her to a horse and have Leonie take her back to Garreg Mach to see Manuela.

He finally found her at night time by the hill overlooking the vast land they would have to travel to get to Gronder Field tomorrow. She was standing next to a lone tree, singing softly. He raised an eyebrow at the two silent Kingdom knights standing guards near her. They bowed at him but did not say anything which he just accepted.

… for now. 

He’ll grill Ingrid about them later. 

He walked towards her and stopped right behind her, listening to her song. It seemed like it was a short song as she stopped singing soon enough and just started to hum. He listened to her hum for a few moments and waited until the humming started to repeat before he said, “I never heard you sing before.”

She stopped humming and turned to face him. The moonlight gave her an ethereal glow that made him remember that she had received the goddess’ power.

And that worried him. 

Because what could possibly affect someone who had the goddess’ power so badly that they would start to get sick?

What if… her mortal body was never meant to keep such power in the first place?

“Rhea sang it to me once.” She admitted, placing her left finger over her right as she rubbed the skin between her fingers and the back of her hand. She turned to stare at the starry sky as she explained, “But I think Sothis made the song. I only heard it once but I can remember it clearly.”

“Are you saying that you can access the goddess’ memories?” He asked as he took a few steps so they were standing side by side. 

She shook her head as she clarified, “No. I think… maybe Sothis sang it to me while I was asleep.”

“Oh.” He was a bit disappointed but mostly relieved. 

If she had access to the goddess’ memories, what’s to say that those memories weren’t going to affect her negatively in the long run?

“Abje…” He called out as he turned to stare at her. She turned to face him and the moonlight hit her hand, making Claude blink when he realized.

“... Is that… an engagement ring?!” He asked, unable to control his voice, as he stared at the ring on her right ring finger.

He would have mistaken it for one of those rings with a magically infused crystal that augmented the wearer’s physical or magical attributes but the ring on her hand was a silver flared ring with a green gem in the middle. No augmented rings would be that fancy. 

She was silent for a few seconds before she replied, “... No…”

“Oh.” He blinked and noticed that she wasn’t meeting his eyes. His eyes widened when he realized that the ring was on her right hand so he asked, “Is that a wedding ring?!” 

She remained quiet for a few moments before nodding.

His jaw dropped at that revelation.

It was obvious who she was married to and he would have remembered seeing her wear a ring during their academic days (she didn’t) so the next question would be:

“When did you get married?!”

She raised her head to stare at him as she sheepishly replied, “The night you left us in the greenhouse… before Adrestia attacked…”

“And I wasn’t invited?!” He asked ludicrously. 

“We didn’t plan to get married there and then.” She defended with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she explained, “Dimitri gave me a ring and I gave him a ring then Seteth came in looking for me and… well… he saw us exchanging rings and asked if we wanted him to perform a short ceremony.”

She shrugged as she continued, “We agreed because it seemed like the right idea at the time? I mean, it was official and binding since Seteth is a church official but we were planning on marrying again once everything was over.”

“Wow, Abje. I’m hurt. I’m actually really, really hurt.” He commented, making sure that each word was emphasized for maximum damage.

“It was a really short ceremony.” She said with a sheepish smile.

“Uh-huh.” He nodded with a raised eyebrow.

“It was just the three of us.” She added.

He stared at her silently. 

“... and Dedue.” She confessed.

“Oh, come on!” 

The morning that the loyalist army and the alliance army marched to Gronder Field, Hilda’s wyvern flew right next to him as she said curiously, “You’re unusually fired up today, Claude.”

“Pretty much.” He replied, glancing down where their professor was riding a horse given to her by Duke Fraldarius. 

“Can I ask why?” His partner-in-crime asked.

“Well, my dear Hilda, I just found out something and I need to yell at Dimitri about it.” He said vaguely. As much as he wanted to complain to Hilda about it, he didn’t feel like he had the right to actually tell anyone about their professor being secretly married to the missing prince of Faerghus.

… the royal… prince… 

Oh, sweet merciful Almyran gods.

Teach was the princess consort of Faerghus!

He almost didn’t hear Hilda’s scandalous (and absolutely romance novel worthy) guess, “... Did he get the Professor pregnant and the real reason why the Professor doesn’t want us to know who had saved her was because she left their child with them?!”

“What? No! I mean, a child?!” He finally turned to stare at Hilda with wide eyes as his brain actually stopped working for a second, already bombarded by the realization that Teach was now royalty and Hilda’s guess only turned everything into a big mush.

“Is there?!” Hilda asked back with wide eyes as well.

“I’m asking you!” Claude could only shout back.

From behind them, Seteth and Cyril sighed and shook their heads while Flayn giggled.

Gronder Field was a nightmare.

There was no other way to describe it.

When they had reached the field, the imperial army was already engaged in a fight with Dimitri and Dedue. Claude could barely see them as they were surrounded by imperial troops which in turn made the loyalists lose sight of the bigger picture and they joined in to aid their liege without any proper plan. 

Almost as if they anticipated the loyalists’ fatalistic blind loyalty, the empire sent crest beasts into the field once the loyalists started to charge and Edelgard appeared, wielding the Sword of the Creator of all things.

That’s when everything dissolved into utter chaos.

Claude wasn’t sure where everyone was anymore. The crest beasts that the empire had sent were winged monstrosities. Every beat of their wings caused a small dust storm to appear, causing poor visibility for both sides. He and Cyril managed to stay together but he wasn’t sure where Hilda, Seteth or Flayn were. 

He wasn’t even sure where their ground units were as well. 

All he could do was follow the red light of a hero relic being used, hoping it was their missing professor or maybe Ingrid with Luin.

If it was Edelgard, he’ll take a shot too but finding his family was more important right now.

Thankfully, the light did come from the hero relic Areadbhar.

But his blood ran cold when he saw that she was surrounded by imperial soldiers with their lances poised to strike her down. A few feet away, he could barely see the carcasses of three crest beasts and he briefly wondered if she had taken those out all by herself.

She was covered in so much blood and he could only hope it wasn’t hers.

She wobbled on her feet and the imperial soldiers charged her.

“Abje!” He shouted as he and Cyril shot down the soldiers from the sky. She rushed the two soldiers in front of her and cleaved them in half using the relic in her hands before falling on her knees.

Thankfully, he and Cyril managed to take down the others before they can get to her. Cyril stayed in the air, keeping watch, while he landed his wyvern right next to her and jumped off, rushing to her side as he shouted, “Abje!” 

He knelt next to her and looked her over. She was breathing heavily, holding onto the hero relic in her hands. The blood didn’t seem to be hers.

Except the large wound on her left thigh.

“We need to get you to a healer!” He said worriedly, grabbing her arm.

“No!” She pushed him away and used Areadbhar to push herself back to her feet, “I saw him, Claude! I saw Dimitri!”

“Abje-”

“He was just right there!” She shouted as tears fell from her eyes, “I almost… I almost… If they hadn’t come, I could have gotten to him!”

“I get it, Abje! I’ll go meet with Dimitri myself, okay?” He tried to suggest, grabbing her arm, “Please, Abje. Let Cyril take you to a healer and I’ll find Dimitri myself.”

“No, Claude! I have to see him!” She was hysterical and he felt like his heart would stop as it reminded him of another time where he saw someone dear to him become hysterical as well, “I have to make sure he’s safe! I don’t have any left! I used them all because of them! I used all of my div-”

“CLAUDE!” Cyril’s loud scream was all the warning they got as one of the winged crest beast flew towards them, almost hitting Cyril. 

Claude’s wyvern covered them with its wings and he held her in his arms to protect her as a blast of wind hit them, sending dust everywhere. 

“We have to go, Abje!” Claude shouted as he pulled her towards his wyvern while Cyril tried to keep the beast’s attention to him.

“No!” She screamed, trying to pull away from Claude as she screamed, “No, Claude! Let me go! He’s right there! He was right there! Dimitri! DIMITRI!”

“I’m sorry, Abje! We need to leave this place and get you healed!”

“I’m fine! I’m fi-” She wasn’t able to finish her sentence as she suddenly retched, vomiting on the ground in front of her.

A few seconds after she finished, she became limp in his arms which caused Claude to panic, “Abje!”

He quickly turned her towards him. She was still breathing but she seemed to have lost consciousness. Her skin was too pale to be healthy and her breathing was too shallow to be normal.

“Damn it.” He cursed and hurriedly got on his wyvern with her in front of him, her legs over his right leg while her back was resting on his left arm and her head was resting on his left shoulder. She held Areadbhar in her grips tight and Claude had to move her hands so that Areadbhar was pressing against her chest and not dangling in the air.

As his wyvern flew towards the sky, Cyril shouted, “I’ll lead this away! Take the professor to safety!”

“Cyril, no!” His shout fell in deaf ears as Cyril’s wyvern flew away from them and the winged crest beast flew after him. 

He could hear another pair of monstrous wings growing closer and closer to their position, coming from where she had been pointing. With a heavy heart and frustrated tears daring to fall from his eyes, he turned his wyvern towards the opposite way and flew off. 

He wasn’t sure how far he flew or where the hell he was. The dust storms the winged beasts had created made checking for landmarks hard. He was just hoping that he wasn’t flying straight to imperial territory. 

Then the dust storm cleared and he could see an army marching towards his direction. The sight of Lorenz’ purple hair and armor finally pushed the tears to fall out of sheer relief.

“Marianne!” He shouted as his wyvern flew towards them as fast as it could. The alliance army stopped their march and Claude landed his wyvern right in front of them.

“Professor!” Lorenz, Lysithea and Marianne shouted when they saw the unconscious woman in Claude’s arms and they rushed towards the two. Claude handed the mint-haired woman to Lorenz who gently laid her on the ground and Marianne knelt to her side, quickly checking her over.

“What in the Goddess’ name is happening, Claude?” Lorenz asked as Lysithea healed Claude’s numerous scraps and bruises while Marianne and her battalion focused on healing their unconscious professor.

Claude took a few deep breaths and saw Judith was now standing beside Lorenz. Claude rubbed the side of his face as he quickly summarized the situation, “Dimitri and Dedue were already fighting the empire when we got here. The loyalist army charged in to save them and we had no choice but to join them. The empire has these winged beasts that cause that dust storm you’re seeing so we couldn’t even see anything, much less properly coordinate with the rest of the army.”

“That’s the barebone of the situation.” Claude concluded before ordering, “Lorenz, Judith, I need you both to divide our army into two but keep them together when you enter the dust storm. The priority right now is to meet up with as much of our allies as possible and take down all the winged beasts so that the dust storm would dissipate.”

He turned towards Lorenz as he ordered, “Lorenz, you’re in charge of the mounted and flying units. Keep the bow, holy and dark knights in the middle while the other knights keep them safe. Use the flyers to scout ahead but keep them together as well and don’t let them stray too far from the main group.”

He got on his wyvern as he continued, “Judith, you take the rest of our units. Keep the magic users and archers in the middle and surround them with our armored and fortress knights. Lysithea, I want you in the middle of the mages and ready your Seraphim whenever you hear the loud beating of wings or feel a strong gust of wind.”

He turned towards Marianne and asked, “Marianne, is she…”

“The Professor is okay.” Marianne informed him, making everyone sigh in relief, “We’ll create a makeshift bed for her to rest in. We believe she’s only exhausted but we’ll cast a thorough diagnostic check once she’s in a bed to be sure.”

“That’s good.” He nodded before he ordered, “I need you and two other battalions of healers to stay here and create a healing station. Anyone gets badly hurt or if any of us finds allies who needs more than a Heal or a Physics, we’ll send them your way.”

“Okay.” Marianne nodded grimly.

“We won’t be able to coordinate properly but a fire spell should still be visible in the dust storm. Use them to keep tabs on each other’s position but always be prepared before using it as it might get the attention of the enemies.” He suggested before adding grimly, “Hopefully, our allies would understand the meaning of them and try to rendezvous with us.”

“And what would you doing, Claude?” Lorenz asked, worry evident in his voice.

His glanced at the unconscious mint-haired woman on the ground, surrounded by healers, before turning his attention to everyone as he declared, “I’m going to find Dimitri and Dedue.”

“That’s reckless.” Judith stated and tried to reason, “Don’t be an idiot, boy. If what you said is true then those boys would be in the middle of the imperial troops. Going in there alone without any backup-”

“I know but it’ll be harder to spot me if I’m alone and…” Claude’s grip on the reins of his wyvern tightened as he said, “I already lost them once five years ago. I’m not going to lose them again just when we finally found them.”

“I’m sick of losing people I care about.” He mumbled before staring at Judith as he said, “I’m sorry, Judith. You’re right, I’m being an idiot but this is one idiotic moment I’m going to follow through to the bitter end.”

“Go, Claude.” Lorenz said with a serious expression on his face. He placed his hand over one of Claude’s clenched fists as he said, “Find His Highness and Dedue for us. We will keep the enemies busy.”

“Yeah. We’ll make such a big ruckus they’ll forget about Dimitri and Dedue!” Lysithea added confidently as she placed her hand over Lorenz.

Marianne placed her hand over Lysithea’s hand as she said softly, “I am worried about Dimitri and Dedue as well but please, Claude, promise me that you’ll stay safe as well.”

Lorenz scoffed before commenting, “It would take more than this pathetic imperial tactic to take out our Master Schemer.”

Lysithea’s eyes widened as she asked in a surprised tone in her voice, “Did you… just compliment Claude?”

Lorenz blushed as he stuttered, “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Marianne giggled and Claude felt tears fall from his eyes once more. He let go of the reins of his wyvern and pulled his three friends to an awkward but genuine group hug, making them all gasp.

“I promise I’ll stay safe so you guys stay safe too, okay?” He whispered at them and they wrapped their arms around him as well.

“Of course. Who do you think you’re talking to, idiot?” Lysithea mumbled.

“It is a noble’s duty to keep all those under his protection safe. I cannot do that if I am not safe myself, wouldn’t you say?” Lorenz replied in an almost haughty tone.

“I’ll stay here and keep everyone safe so don’t worry about me, okay?” Marianne whispered softly.

He tightened his hold on them for a moment and took a deep breath, taking in the smell of tea, cakes and lavender. 

He let them go and nodded at them with a determined look on his face. They nodded back at him with the same determination in their eyes and Claude grabbed the reins once more.

His wyvern flew as the alliance army began to march once more. 

Together, they entered the dust storm and into the chaos of Gronder Field. 

He failed to find Dimitri and Dedue.

The poor visibility of the dust storm hindered his progress and made backtracking to his previous location hard. 

The alliance army did manage to take out all the winged beasts and rendezvoused with the loyalist army in the end. Once the dust cleared, the empire started to retreat but Claude was forced to stop his search because his wyvern couldn’t fly anymore, already reached its limit a while back. With a heavy heart, he flew his wyvern back to the healing station Marianne had hastily built. 

When he got there, it had become a base of operation for both the alliance and loyalist armies. 

As his wyvern landed, he saw her walk towards him, wearing a simple long-sleeved white dress that made her mint-colored hair pop out. He dismounted from his wyvern and shook his head as he closed his eyes, unable to stop the frustrated tears from falling from his eyes. He felt her hand gently wipe his tears away and he opened his eyes once more. She smiled softly at him as she silently cried and pulled him towards her. He held her tightly and he couldn’t stop himself from sobbing as she whispered, “Thank you for doing your best, Claude.”

Reports were still coming in as they try to reorganize their armies and patrols were still sweeping Gronder Field for both survivors and stragglers. 

Ashe and his battalion met up with the alliance army quickly once they started sending out the fire spells in the sky. With Ashe’s light crystal arrows, the other loyalists easily rendezvoused with them as well as they recognized the signal.

Everyone was surprised to hear Lorenz actually praise Claude for that idea… especially Claude. 

Marianne and the other healers were working hard in healing the injured. The other magic users, including Lysithea and Lorenz, had joined in to help. They found Mercedes and Annette a few hours ago together and they were adamant in helping after getting healed by Marianne. 

Felix and Leonie had dragged a wounded Sylvain in as well. It seemed the redhead had taken a blow for the Fraldarius heir but Marianne was sure he would make a full recovery.

Seteth, Flayn and Ingrid managed to band together and created their own flying army during the chaos. They also managed to save Cyril as they had been prioritizing the killing of the flying beasts and had been tracking the frantic beating of the beast’s wings as it tried to catch Cyril’s wyvern. 

Ignatz and Raphael were also accounted for and they brought with them a battalion of healers and a lot of wounded allies. It seemed that during the dust storm, Ignatz and Raphael had focused on finding any of their allies when they managed to meet up with a battalion of healers with a heavily wounded commander. Together, they prioritized in getting as many injured allies into their care without alerting the enemies. 

They had also received reports that Duke Fraldarius was alive and well, leading a battalion to search Gronger Field in hopes of finding the missing prince.

But no one has heard anything about Hilda. 

As the sun began to set, a battered wyvern flew towards their camp. One of their snipers reported it was Hilda and Claude was immediately running towards the site they believed the wyvern would land. Most of their allies were either already resting or were still busy helping out so he was mildly surprised to see Raphael and Felix already waiting for the wyvern to land. 

“Dedue!” He barely heard Raphael’s shout as Hilda got off her wyvern, holding an unconscious bleeding Dedue in her arms. Both of them were dirty and full of scrapes and bruises but it was clear that the blood on Hilda’s clothes were coming from the wound on Dedue’s head. Raphael immediately took Dedue from her and rushed him to the healing tent while Felix placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her upright.

She raised her head towards Claude, tears falling from her bloodshot eyes as she sobbed, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Professor…” 

Claude turned around and saw the mint-haired woman was behind him, staring at Hilda with a stoic expression. 

“Hey!” Felix shouted as the pink-haired woman fell on her knees, crying as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“We couldn’t stop him!” She wailed and Claude felt his blood run cold as dread filled his entire body.

Please…

Please don’t say it.

Hilda…

Don’t.

“He just kept going on and on about how you were being imprisoned in Enbarr and I didn’t get the chance to tell him that you were with us before… before…” 

Claude couldn’t breath.

“They swarmed us while we were chasing after Edelgard as she retreated and Dedue took a hit for me. I-I saw him… he… they impaled him with so many lances right in front of us!”

Claude’s vision blurred as Felix held the crying woman in his arms, the dark-haired man’s entire body shaking as tears fell from his eyes as he bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood.

Then he heard a thud from behind him.

He turned around and his eyes widened as he saw their professor on the ground.

“Abje!” 

The entire camp was in chaos. The news of Dimitri’s death and the professor’s fainting caused panic and discord everywhere. It took the combined efforts of Judith, Lorenz, Seteth, Ingrid, and Sylvain to get everyone to calm down enough to return to their duties. The entire camp was still tensed and it felt like a single sound could break everything apart but, for now, they were willing to wait for any official news about the fate of the prince and the professor. 

Claude couldn’t join in calming everyone down because he refused to leave the healing tent where Dedue and their professor were staying. They had to transfer them to a private healing tent to keep everyone else from eavesdropping and spreading rumors all over the camp. The healing tent was currently guarded by members of Claude’s Immortal Corps as he knew he could trust them to keep their mouth shut. Marianne was checking the mint-haired woman who remained silent the entire time while Mercedes did the same for the silent man who had regained consciousness just an hour ago. 

Claude had one arm wrapped around Hilda’s shoulder as the tired woman trembled slightly while Seteth sat on the chair on his other side. 

Marianne’s face was grim as she turned towards Mercedes and whispered something to her. The older woman frowned slightly as Marianne showed her a piece of paper Claude knew she had written after checking their professor over. 

He was just about to ask what they were talking about when the flap of the tent opened and Duke Fraldarius rushed inside, walking straight towards the mint-haired woman.

He knelt on one knee in front of her as he asked, “I heard the news and rushed as soon as I could. Are you alright, Your Highness?”

“Your Highness?” Hilda repeated with a hoarse voice, making all of the other women turn towards the kneeling duke.

“You knew?” Claude asked the older man which made them turn towards him instead.

“Knew what, Claude?” His pink-haired comrade asked with a frown.

Rodrigue and Claude stared at one another with wide eyes. That’s when they both realized that, in the heat of the moment, both of them had blurted a secret they had been keeping.

“It’s fine.” The mint-haired woman said, her voice void of any emotions. She raised her head to stare at Hilda as she admitted, “Seteth married me and Dimitri five years ago, the night before Adrestia attacked Garreg Mach. Dedue was there as a witness and Dimitri sent a letter to Rodrigue soon after to inform him about our marriage.”

Seeing Hilda staring at Claude, she added, “Claude only found out a day ago. He wasn’t deliberately hiding it from any of you.”

“That’s why you wanted to scold Dimitri…” The pink-haired Goneril realized and Claude nodded.

At the sound of his name, everyone grew quiet and Marianne covered her mouth to silence her sobbing. Mercedes wrapped her arms around the blue-haired woman while Rodrigue looked at the floor with clenched fists. 

Claude watched her raise her head to stare at the ceiling for a moment before closing her eyes. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes once more. She lowered her head and turned around to stare at the quiet white-haired man as she asked, “Dedue… could you tell us what happened?”

At that question, everyone in the tent turned their attention at Dedue as she continued, “Hilda said that Dimitri believed I was in Enbarr? Why?”

Dedue clenched his fists on the bed sheet tightly as he replied, “When we rescued His Highness five years ago, we were ambushed by Cornelia’s men and he was severely injured. A few knights from Fhirdiad helped us escape but we were too far from the northern borders so we hid in Kleiman territory while he healed… It… it took three years…”

“Last year, we heard a rumor from one of Kleiman’s men that Edelgard was keeping a woman with green hair imprisoned in Enbarr.” Dedue explained, his eyes darkening as he remembered, “Five men from Duscur went to Enbarr to gather more information. Only one of them returned. He informed us that he didn’t see any green-haired woman but he did see the emperor. She had the Sword of the Creator with her.”

Seteth’s expression was grim as he realized, “And because Edelgard has the Sword of the Creator with her…”

“Yes.” Dedue nodded before continuing, “His Highness and I, at that time, thought that the green-haired woman in Enbarr was the professor.”

He looked at his lap as he continued, “We left Kleiman territory and tried to get to Enbarr as quickly as we could to save the professor. Arianrhod proved to be too difficult to infiltrate with just the two of us so we traveled to Alliance territory instead. We heard that the Alliance has joined forces with the Church of Seiros and was being led by a green-haired woman but we thought they were talking about the archbishop.”

“His Highness refused my suggestion of meeting with Claude as he wanted to save the professor as soon as possible and decided that the alliance’s actions against the empire would make it easier for us to get into Adestria.” Dedue bowed as he said while his fists trembled against the bed sheet, “It’s my fault that His Highness is dead. If I had been more insistent that we ally ourselves with Leicester, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“It’s not your fault, Dedue.” She said in a monotone voice and everyone stared at her. Her face was blank as a porcelain doll as she reasoned, “You and Dimitri acted based on the information you got and, as his vassal, you were duty-bound to do as he ordered.” 

She turned to face Claude as she said, “We need to think about our next step now, Claude.”

“Next step… Professor…” Hilda got up and sat next to her. She placed her hands over her clenched fists as she said gently, “We can think about our next step later, Professor. It’s okay to take the time to grieve…”

She shook her head and replied, “No. I don’t have the luxury to stop now. We need to finish this war as soon as possible.”

“Why?” He asked, staring at her. 

Something was wrong. Even if she was grieving about Dimitri’s death and wanted revenge, the way she was acting was too strange.

He saw Marianne and Mercedes lower their heads to stare at the floor and he realized, “Is it connected to your sickness?”

Seeing the blue-haired woman jolt at hearing his last word, he turned towards Marianne and asked, “Marianne, is she sick?”

“Ummm…” His friend refused to meet his eyes and he could feel his blood turning cold once more.

“I’m not sick, Claude.” Her voice cut through the haze that started to swallow him and he turned to stare back at her. She smiled sadly at him and confessed as her voice broke, “I’m pregnant.”

All of them could only stare at her in stunned silence for a few moments. Claude turned towards Marianne and his friend nodded as she confirmed, “The Professor is three months pregnant.”

“Three months.” Claude repeated and his eyes widened. 

He reunited with her three months ago. 

Before that day…

“It’s Dimitri’s.” He realized, making the mint-haired woman nod.

“Wait. How can it be Dimitri’s?” Hilda asked in a confused tone, “He hasn’t seen the Professor in the past five years, right?”

They stared at one another, having a silent conversation. Claude nodded at her and she nodded back before turning her attention to everyone in the room. She gripped the fabric of her dress tightly as she ordered solemnly, “What I am about to tell you must not leave this room, am I clear?”

Everyone nodded and she explained about her relationship with the goddess and what she believed happened five years ago after she fell off the cliff.

During the entire explanation, Claude saw that everyone was surprised and a bit wary of her words.

Except one.

Once she was done with her explanation, Claude turned his attention towards the only person who wasn’t a bit surprised by all of these and asked, “You know what she’s talking about, don’t you, Seteth?”

Seteth’s expression was grim but thoughtful. He closed his eyes as he confessed, “I cannot say for certain if I am right with my guess on what Rhea had planned for the Professor.”

“But you have an idea.” Claude retorted and pressed, “Even if it’s just an idea, you must have some basis to why that idea could be true.”

He stood and glared at the silent man as he said, “Now isn’t the time to keep such a secret from any of us. She lost five years of her life and deserves to know why.”

“You’re right.” Seteth opened his eyes and stared at her as he said, “I would have liked it if I could have told this to you in private but if you think we can trust the people in this room then I will concede to your decision.” 

She glanced at everyone in the room before nodding at Seteth, “I trust them.”

She glanced at Rodrigue before glancing at Claude. That quick eye movement was all Claude needed to know that it wasn’t that she trusted Rodrigue as much as the rest of her students but that she knew that they needed Rodrigue’s loyalty on their side now that… now that all of these are happening.

“Very well.” Seteth sat straight as he explained, “My guess is that your mother was a vessel that Rhea created to host the goddess’ soul.”

He raised his hand to stop everyone from talking all at once and said, “Please let me finish first.”

He stared at them for a moment. When he was sure they weren’t going to interrupt him, he continued, “I cannot be sure how Rhea did it but I am certain that your mother was a vessel. A… body, would perhaps be a better description, that Rhea made. However, the body did not receive the goddess’ soul and instead gained her own. Rhea let her live her life normally and she fell in love with your father. She gave birth to you and… I am only speculating this part but I believe that her body was not meant to give birth to another human being and that you may have been dying when you were born. I believe that whatever Rhea used to give life to your mother she had transferred to you and that ‘something’ was what connected you to the goddess.”

“That’s what I am guessing happened.” Seteth clenched his fists as he added, “As for your lost five years, I am quite sure that you didn’t lose five years. These past five years, your time stopped.”

“My time… stopped?” She repeated in a soft voice.

“Yes.” Seteth nodded as he explained, “You must have been heavily wounded when you fell and… the power you received from the goddess stopped time on you while your body healed. You have not aged nor have your hair had gotten longer. The child you are carrying only started to grow once you woke up as well when everyone in this room knows that you have not been with anyone but Dimitri.”

Everyone grew silent after Seteth’s explanation and the silence lasted for a few moments before the mint-haired woman stood. Hilda was immediately on her feet as she asked, “Professor?”

She took a deep breath before saying, “Our armies are still waiting for news about my… and Dimitri’s situation. For now, Hilda, tell the alliance army that I am fine. Seteth, please say the same to the members of the church who accompanied us. Rodrigue…”

Her eyes darkened as she said, “I need you to gather all the Blaiddyd loyalists in one location. I will make a declaration in a few minutes and… I need your support when I do.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” The duke bowed lowly as he declared, “House Fraldarius is yours to command.”

Claude wondered if he was the only one a bit uneasy by how intense the duke was.

“Thank you, Rodrigue.” 

With those orders, Hilda, Rodrigue and Seteth left the tent, leaving her with Claude, Marianne, Mercedes and Dedue. 

She turned to face the injured white-haired man. She walked towards him and stopped by the foot of his bed as she said in a calm tone, “Dimitri is dead.”

Dedue gripped the sheet covering his lap tightly as he closed his eyes while she continued, “But I am still alive and I am carrying his child.”

Dedue opened his eyes and stared at her as she walked towards him, “I intend to continue what he has started and make his dream of a kingdom that both the people from Faerghus and Duscur would be proud to call their home a reality.”

She stopped when she was right by his side and offered her hand, “Would you… would you help me make his dream come true, Dedue?”

Dedue’s hand shook as he grasped her hand gently. He bowed as he said, “I will protect you with my life, Your Highness.” 

She wrapped an arm around the larger man as she whispered, “Thank you, Dedue.”

"Thank you for staying by his side this whole time." She whispered and held Dedue in her arms for a few moments before she let go and turned towards Claude. Her lips curved into a sad smile as she asked, “You know what I’m thinking, right?”

He nodded, “Yeah. I think we’re thinking the same thing, Teach.”

Her smile turned more amused at the change of nickname as she said, “This is the best way.”

“Yeah…” Claude agreed grimly, “It is.”

She walked towards him and asked, “You’ll have my back right, Claude?”

“Always.” He replied immediately and asked, “You’ll have mine, right?”

Her smile became genuine as she replied, “Always.”

The loyalist army waited on the open field as Rodrigue had asked. A few minutes later, Byleth walked towards them together with Seteth, Dedue and Claude. She still wore a long-sleeved white dress that one of the healers gave her but she had placed a blue coat over it. But what caught everyone’s attention was the hero relic Areadbhar in her hands. She stood in front of them and nodded at Rodrigue while Seteth, Dedue and Claude stood behind her. Rodrigue walked towards them, standing between Seteth and Dedue.

“Five years ago, Seteth, the archbishop’s second-in-command, married me and Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd in secret.” She announced, causing a lot of knights and soldiers to start whispering. 

Claude almost wanted to smile when he saw Ashe’s and Ingrid’s open mouth. Sylvain was tapping Felix’ back quickly and repeatedly while the shorter man just stared at her with an open mouth as well. Mercedes had to hold Annette who looked like her feet had given up on her in surprise. He could hear murmurs coming from behind him as well which meant some (if not all) of the alliance army were listening in as well. He could clearly hear Lysithea shouting “We weren’t invited?!” 

“I can confirm that the marriage is binding in the eyes of the church and the goddess.” Seteth said firmly and loudly.

“I have witnessed the wedding in person.” Dedue said next.

Rodrigue took out a worn out letter from his coat and said, “I have, in my hand, a letter Prince Dimitri has sent to me that details about his marriage to His Highness, Princess Byleth.”

He took a few steps forward and handed the letter to Gilbert as he said, “Sir Gilbert, as you were once a knight under the service of House Blaiddyd, you recognize the handwriting, yes?”

Gilbert took the letter from Rodrigue and looked it over. His eyes widened for a brief moment before he handed the letter back to the dark-haired man before announcing, “Yes, that is His Highness writing.”

“Thank you, Sir Gilbert.” Rodrigue walked towards Dimitri’s childhood friends and handed the letter to them, “Sylvain of House Gautier, Felix of House Fraldarius and Ingrid of House Galatea, as, His Highness, Prince Dimitri’s childhood friends. Do you recognize his handwriting?”

Sylvain immediately grabbed the letter from the duke’s hand and looked it over while his friends pressed their cheek against his to see the letter as well. Ashe, Annette and Mercedes also pressed themselves to the childhood friend trio to see the letter.

“My beloved Byleth…” Annette squealed as she read.

“Oh my goddess…” Ashe commented with a red face, unable to even utter the words he was reading.

Felix’s lips curled into a frown as he mumbled, “My father does not need to know how the professor’s smile is the greatest thing you have ever seen, you idiot.”

“Oh, Dimitri. I didn’t know you were such a romantic.” Mercedes commented with a soft giggle.

Ingrid smacked Sylvain on the back when the red-haired noble started to giggle, “Don’t laugh, Sylvain!”

“Sorry, sorry!” 

Rodrigue cleared his throat, making the Blue Lion students blush out of embarrassment. Sylvain cleared his throat as he said, “I, and the rest of His Highness’ fellow Blue Lion students, can confirm that this is, indeed, His Highness’ handwriting. Right?”

Everyone nodded enthusiastically except Felix who crossed his arms and looked away as he nodded.

“Thank you.” Rodrigue tried to take the letter from Sylvain but Annette quickly took it and hid behind Felix. Felix glared at his father who simply sighed before walking back. He stopped next to the mint-haired woman as he said, “Prince Dimitri is dead.”

The entire field became silent at those words and Claude’s heart ached at seeing his friends lower their heads to hide the tears they’re trying to keep from falling.

“However…” Rodrigue glanced at her and she nodded at him before turning to face the Blaiddyd loyalists once more.

“Two years ago, I reunited with Dimitri in Kleiman territory.” She announced which made everyone start to whisper again. 

Claude even heard Leonie’s shout, “What?!” 

“He wasn’t fully recovered then so we had to stay in hiding.” She continued, not minding the whispers, “Three months ago, we learned that I was pregnant with his child.” 

The whispers immediately stopped and they all stared at her as she continued, “Dimitri left for Enbarr to end this war so that our child could live in peace. I tried to follow them but I lost track of them when we entered Alliance territory. That’s when I joined Leicester Alliance…”

She closed her eyes as she said, “I had hoped with Claude’s help, I could find Dimitri but…”

She opened her eyes and proclaimed in a clear loud voice, “The Adestrian Empire killed my husband! They killed your rightful king!”

She placed her hand over her stomach as she continued, “They killed the father of my child!”

“The Adestrian Empire will not get away with this!” She declared and Claude could see that she was getting to the loyalists, “The dead demands its tribute!” 

She raised Areadbhar to the air as she declared, “Our king deserves justice!”

With that, the entire loyalist army shouted their agreement.

She glanced at Seteth who nodded at her before declaring, “The Church of Seiros hereby acknowledges Byleth Blaiddyd as Queen Regent of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus!”

Rodrigue walked in front of her and knelt on one knee. He bowed as he proclaimed, “The king is dead! Long live the queen!”

Claude watched as an entire army knelt as they shouted, “Long live the queen!”

As he stared at the scene before him, he thought that his dream was slowly coming into fruition.

But at what cause? 

The entire camp was sent into action soon after that. The Loyalist army began to prepare to travel to Galatea territory and Ingrid had already left to coordinate with their forces back in the northern kingdom territories. The Alliance army has also started to organize their troops. The injured for both the loyalist and alliance army would be transferred to the Great Bridge of Myrrdin while the rest of the Alliance army will push forward to Bergliez territory. While the Loyalist army has lost almost half of its soldiers and knights, the Alliance army only suffered insignificant casualties in Gronder Field due to arriving late as well as Claude’s strategy during the dirt storm. As such, Claude had ordered that the Alliance army push through Bergliez territory while the empire was retreating to Enbarr. He has already sent Flayn back to Garreg Mach to have their reserve forces mobilize while he sent Cyril to Castle Riegan to deliver a letter to Nader with specific instructions on how to proceed. 

By the time the sun was rising, the loyalist army was ready to depart and Claude finally caught her in one of the empty healing tents with Dedue, looking over a detailed map of Fodlan that they had placed on the bed. They weren’t really hiding considering there were two knights posted at the entrance of the tent. They were same knights he saw guarding the night he heard her sing so it was pretty much obvious who was inside the tent. 

“Hey, Teach.” He greeted, making both of them turn towards him. 

She stared at him for a few seconds before turning towards Dedue and saying, “Please give us some privacy, Dedue.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Dedue bowed at her before walking out of the tent. 

Dedue bowed at him which he returned with a nod and the quiet man left the tent. Claude walked towards the bed with the map and stopped next to her. He scanned the map and commented, “The loyalist army is hugely outnumbered. Not to mention, we have gotten reports that the Death Knight was leading the subjugation of the western kingdom territories.”

“That’s true. But you know the truth about our operation, right?” She asked, turning to stare at him.

He replied grimly, “Turn the people of Faerghus against the pro-imperial nobles by using Dimitri’s death and your child.”

She nodded and turned her attention back at the map. She toppled the red piece set in Castle Blaiddyd as she continued, “We do not have enough manpower to take back Faerghus but by inciting a nation-wide riot, we can launch an attack to Castle Blaiddyd and take out Cornelia. By taking over Castle Blaiddyd, we can retake Fhirdiad and save the imprisoned loyalists.”

“While we take Fort Merceus…” He added.

“The Adestrian Empire cannot defend against two attacks after Gronder Field.” She stated and turned to face him, “If we wait for a month, Fort Merceus would be receiving reinforcement but, if we attack now, they would be too busy trying to help with the retreat.”

He turned to face her as well as he continued, “And with the empire busy with the retreat, they would be unable to send out reinforcements to the dukedom too.”

She nodded and stated, “This is the fastest way to Enbarr.”

“I know… I just…” Claude’s eyes softened as he admitted, “I don’t like the part where we won’t be in the same battle.”

She smiled at him and placed a hand on his cheek as she said, “I’ll be okay, Claude. I promise I won’t strain myself.”

She shrugged as she added nonchalantly, “Considering my current condition, I’m sure I would have a lot of people trying to keep me away from the frontline anyway.” 

“Abje…” He stared at her seriously as he asked, “Could you stop pretending?”

She blinked at the request but remained quiet as he continued, “I know you enough to see that you’re just acting. Ever since Dimitri…”

He lowered his eyes as the words would not leave his lips.

“Did you know?” She asked, her voice breaking as she said, “They didn’t find his body.”

His eyes widened and he raised his head to stare at her. Her shoulders were slightly trembling as she told him, “Sylvain just told me about an hour ago. They scoured Gronder Field twice, especially the place Hilda and Dedue said they saw it happen. There was no body.”

“Abje…” He placed a hand on her arm gently.

“He could still be alive, Claude…” She said desperately, “Maybe those soldiers took him. Maybe he managed to get away. Maybe… maybe…”

She lowered her head as she wrapped her arms around herself as she admitted, “I know it’s a long shot. I know it’s wishful thinking but I… I…”

“I have to believe.” She raised her head as tears fall from her eyes, “I have to believe he’s alive and we’ll be together again or else, our child will be left all alone.”

“What… are you talking about?” 

“My mother died in childbirth, Claude.” Her lips curved into a sad smile as she reminded him, “And I was never meant to be alive in the first place. What’s to say that whatever happened to my mother will not happen to me? Will not happen to both of us?”

She placed her hands on his chest and gripped the fabric of his clothes tightly as she whispered, “That’s why we need to get to Enbarr and save Rhea as soon as possible. She’s the only one who knows what happened the day I was born. She’s the only person who can save our child…”

“This child…” She rested her forehead against his chest as she whispered, “... is all I have left of Dimitri.”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly as he whispered, “I won’t let anything happen to you or your child. We’ll get Rhea out of Enbarr even if I have to infiltrate it all by myself. We’ll get her to talk and we’ll find a way to save both you and your child. I won’t let her sacrifice either of you.”

He pulled away slightly so he could placed his hands on her cheeks and gently tilted her head up. He rested his forehead against hers as he swore softly, “I promise you, Abje. I will protect and raise your child if anything happens to you but-”

His voice was clear and his eyes shone with determination as he continued, “It will never come to that. You and your child? You two are going to be fine. I’ll make sure of it.”

She stared at him for a few seconds with wide eyes before she finally smiled at him softly as she whispered, “Thank you, Claude.” 

“There’s nothing to thank me for, Abje. We’re family, remember?” He whispered before grinning as he added, “Besides, I’ll be your child’s favorite uncle and you won’t be able to stop it. I’ll spoil your kid rotten, just you wait.”

She chuckled softly before teasing, “You’ll have to battle Sylvain for that title, I’m afraid.”

“Please.” He scoffed before asking casually, “What does Sylvain have that I don’t?”

“Nicer hair, for a start.” They both turned towards the entrance and saw Sylvain standing by the entrance with a carefree smile, “Sorry to interrupt you, Claude.”

He bowed as he informed them, “We’re ready to depart, Your Majesty.”

“Okay.” She nodded at the red-haired noble before turning to face Claude. She placed her hand on his cheek and said, “I’ll see you later, Claude.”

“Yeah.” He nodded and watched as she walked out of the tent. 

Sylvain stepped to the side to let her pass. Instead of following her, the older man turned to face Claude and asked, “Did you know Leonie and Jeralt’s mercenaries would be coming with us?”

“Yeah.” He nodded as he chuckled, “You’ll probably be getting Alois in your ranks too. I’m pretty sure they’ll meet up with you guys.”

Sylvain hummed for a moment before crossing his arms. He tilted his head as he said, “It’s a convincing lie, by the way.”

“What is?” He asked, staring at the red-haired noble who simply shook his head.

“Nothing.” The heir to House Gautier stared at him as he casually said, “We’re loyal to House Blaiddyd and many of us knew about His Highness and the Professor five years ago so it would be easy for us to believe that they have been together in hiding. It’s a wonderful set up for a tragic story, that’s for sure.”

Duke Riegan sighed before asking, “What are you trying to say, Sylvain? I’m sure that people are waiting for you so you should just cut to the chase.”

“I heard you captured Bernadetta.” Sylvain said seriously, making the dark-haired man stare at him for the sudden change of topic.

He nodded as he said, “That’s true. An imperial battalion set fire to the ballista in the middle of Gronder Field when our ground units tried to take it. Bernadetta was still there but we managed to save her. She’s still healing from her burns though.”

“But can she still write?” Sylvain asked which made Claude frown.

“Well, yeah. Her burns were mostly on her legs.” His lips curved into a small frown as he asked, “You’re not planning on asking her to write about this supposed three years gap, are you?”

“You know it’s a good idea. I’ve already laid the foundation five years ago.” The red-haired noble reminded him before explaining casually, “It’ll help tell the ‘truth’ and we can use the profit we gain from it to fund our armies.”

Claude sighed before saying, “I’ll talk to Bernadetta but don’t get your hopes up. She is, technically, our prisoner.”

“Just tell her that you’d imprison her to her old room in the monastery if she does this.” Sylvain suggested with a grin. His next words were said in a serious tone that almost gave Claude whiplash, “I’ll talk to her after the battle too. I think I can get her to work with us… And I want to make sure she’s okay too.”

“That’s fine with me. We’ll be transferring all the prisoners to Garreg Mach anyway.” Claude explained.

“Well, that’s all I wanted to say.” Sylvain’s lips curved into a cheerful smile as he said, “See you later, Duke Riegan.”

“Sylvain.” He called out before the older man could leave the tent. Sylvain turned his head to stare at him and he asked, “Keep her safe.”

The heir’s lips curved into a small smile as he replied, “Claude, if there’s one thing you should know about the people of Faerghus, it’s that we would willingly lay our lives to protect our rulers and…”

His light brown eyes shone with repressed rage as he declared, “... we will burn the entire world to the ground to avenge them.”

Claude watched silently as the heir of House Gautier left the tent. A few moments later, he sighed and turned towards the map. He reached for the blue pieces placed on Gronder Field and picked up a piece, placing it in the middle of the sea of red pieces in Enbarr. 

The Alliance army took control of Bergliez territory without any problem. They have heard news that Count Bergliez had been ordered to protect Fort Merceus while the main army retreated to Enbarr by the royal decree of the emperor, thus unintentionally leaving his own territory undefended. 

It seemed that the empire did not expect them to continue pushing forward which worked well in their favor. They have managed to secure a supply route by acquiring Hrym territory as well. Due to Viscount Jeritza von Hrym, most commonly known as the Death Knight, being absent in Hrym territory, the retainer trusted with governing said territory surrendered immediately once the news of the Alliance-Loyalist army’s victory over Gronder Field reached Hrym territory. Not only that, the retainer also sent troops and supplies to their army as both a peace-offering and a sign of gratitude. It appeared that the retainer that the Death Knight had left to care for the territory had actually been loyal to the main House Hrym which had tried to join the Alliance years ago. They were unable to defend themselves from the imperial army sent to punish them for trying to defect. All of the members of House Hrym were executed and the Death Knight was placed in charge, granting him the name Hrym via adoption. People of Hrym territory seemed to not have any real loyalty to the Death Knight and many of them were still loyal to the executed House Hrym thus they harbor resentment toward the empire. 

A few days later, they received word that the reserved troops stationed at the monastery has finally reached Myrddin. A day after that, Cyril caught up with them in Bergliez territory and confirmed to Claude that Nader has received his message and was preparing what he had requested.

The day before they set out to enact Hilda’s plan (which he had revised a bit), they received word that the entire region of Faerghus was in chaos. Words of Dimitri’s death and that the grieving queen regent was leading the loyalist army while pregnant had enticed a nation-wide riot and the Loyalist army had mobilized their troops to take Fhirdiad. There were rumors that some of the territories under the dukedom had also revolted and the Death Knight was marching to Fhirdiad to support Cornelia. 

Everyone was worried about the outcome of the siege but they couldn’t just wait for news. To keep the empire from sending reinforcements to Fhirdiad, they would have to do their part as well. 

Also, Claude was hoping that what Dimitri had said five years ago was true as well. They had been talking about the strengths and weaknesses of well known locations in Fodlan (just out of curiosity, of course) and Dimitri had admitted that Fhirdiad would not be able to withstand a siege which was the greatest weakness of the capital city. He had explained that it was due to Fhirdiad’s weakness that the best strategic final line of defense of Fhirdiad was the Tailtean Plains. 

The loyalist army’s plan hinged on the accuracy of Dimitri’s information. Claude and his professor believed in that information and decided to attack Fhirdiad with the loyalist army from the north. Either they drove Cornelia out of Fhirdiad or they take her out in Castle Blaiddyd itself. Either way, their plan hinged on Dimitri’s information that Fhirdiad will quickly fall when under siege. 

The day they enacted their plan to take over Fort Merceus, they received word that the loyalist army has breached Fhirdiad with the help of the people in Fhirdiad and some of the knights stationed in the capital city and was now fighting Cornelia in Castle Blaiddyd.

On their side, pretending to be imperial soldiers fleeing from the Alliance army worked well. Not only that, they also got the count’s oldest son to leave the fort and engage the small contingency led by Seteth that they took with them to make their ‘escape’ believable while the Alliance army marches to their position.

Everything was going well. Claude had left his comrades to infiltrate from the south and take down the count while he opened the gates to the west to let in their allies so they could create ruckus inside the fort itself. 

Then Raphael unintentionally bumped into Caspar and they loudly greeted each other cordially before Caspar remembered that they were in different side. 

They had no choice but to engage in combat with Caspar and the enemies inside. With the bulk of the enemies concentrated on their main attack force, Claude managed to get the west gate opened and joined with the second group which also had his wyvern. The second group was made up of Catherine, Shamir and Cyril who joined with the Alliance army. Manuela, Hanneman, and Flayn stayed in Myrddin to oversee the defense of the bridge. 

He would have liked it if it had been Nader and his Almyran reinforcements with him right now but they wouldn’t be able to join up with the Alliance army until later. 

While the main group kept the bulk of the enemies busy, the western group was able to march further inside without any problem. 

They almost got found out by Linhardt and his battalion but the usually lazy man was hurrying towards the southern area, most probably worried about his childhood friend.

Getting to the count became easy with all the ruckus the main group was creating, not to mention the damage Lysithea and Marianne were creating with their magic.

… which Claude had asked to be kept to a minimum as they wanted to make Fort Mercues their next base of operation and they couldn’t do that if it was heavily damaged by two enthusiastics magic users.

The count was quickly taken out by Catherine. It was almost anti-climatic how easily he was defeated. Claude didn’t even have to do anything.

And it was because he wasn’t doing anything that he noticed that mages with pale skin and black clothes were hurriedly running away. It would have been normal had it been during the time their leader was defeated but these mages left even before Catherine had engaged the count to a duel. 

Not only that, the mages were the only ones leaving, everybody else were surrendering.

That’s when he remembered Lysithea telling him and their professor that she believed she saw mages dressed in black in Gronder Field. She couldn’t be sure because of the dust storms but she wanted to warn them in case her eyes weren’t just playing tricks on her. She had even informed them about the strange experiments those mages had done to her and both him and the professor had a hunch that those mages were somehow connected to the ones who backed up both the Death Knight when Flayn was kidnapped and Solon in the Sealed Forest.

If they were from the same magic sect as the one who had experimented on Lysithea and the other children from House Ordelia and they were also from the same group that kidnapped Flayn…

His blood went cold as he remembered how Solon had been able to transport their professor to another place and it was only due to the power she had received from the goddess that she managed to return to them.

It was better to be safe than sorry. He had Shamir and Catherine push towards the northern exit with the rest of their group and their prisoners which included the count to block anyone trying to retreat while he and Cyril returned to the main group.

When they had returned to the main group, their announcement that the count had been defeated had most of the soldiers and troops surrendering.

Caspar ran back inside during the entire commotion and Linhardt quickly followed him. They most probably went to check on Caspar’s father and maybe try to free him. Hopefully, Catherine and Shamir would be able to take them down. 

He quickly ordered that everyone leave the fort, making it sound like it was a way to declare they have taken the fort to the imperial troops still fighting the alliance army outside but his fellow Golden Deers knew something was up.

Thankfully, they remained silent and followed his orders.

The javelins of light struck Fort Merceus just as their main group had rendezvoused with Alliance army being led by Seteth. 

They dropped down from the sky and obliterated almost the entirety of the supposedly impregnable fort.

He would remember the horror on everyone’s face.

… and the fear and recognition in Seteth’s eyes. 

No one knew what to think of the javelins of light. Some of the pious members of both the alliance army and the imperial army they had taken as prisoners have started to whisper that those javelins of light were the punishment of the goddess.

A punishment to the empire for killing the husband of the woman she had blessed.

The supposedly lucky Alliance army who left the fort before the javelins had struck only fueled the whispers. 

He wasn’t entirely sure if it was really the case but House Varley had surrendered as well and many were saying it was because House Varley has always been pious to the goddess. Regardless if it was fear or their faith, the Alliance army accepted the surrender and the supplies they had offered. 

This whole talk of the goddess’ wrath was utter nonsense as far as Claude was concerned and it seemed Seteth had an idea what it was. But the questioning will have to wait until they had regrouped and fortified their defenses.

They decided to return to Bergliez territory for now with their prisoners. Thankfully, the javelins of light struck mostly the central parts of the fort, keeping their army safe as the bulk of their army was outside engaging in a defensive battle against the imperial troops that left the fort earlier and the second group was by the northern exit, away from the damage. 

They still searched the ruined fort for any survivors, whether they were from the Alliance or the Empire didn’t matter, and Shamir dragged a wounded Linhardt together with a frantic Caspar. They had survived the javelins but the ceiling fell on top of them. Thankfully, there was a support beam that kept it from burying them but a part of it broke off and fell on Linhardt. It had taken both Caspar and Catherine to lift the debris off him so that Shamir could drag him out.

As such, Marianne and the other healers were hard at work once more. Some of the healers from the empire also helped, too shaken up by the javelins of light to care whether they were healing allies or enemies.

They received news that the retaking of Fhirdiad was a success a day later. Not only that, the rumors of territories under the dukedom revolting had also been true and the loyalists have also taken back Gideon and Mateus territories due to the revolts of House Gideon and House Mateus. The Death Knight was heavily wounded and taken as a prisoner during the battle in Castle Blaiddyd while Cornelia had been executed by the queen regent herself.

This meant that the only part of Faerghus that was under imperial control were Rowe territory which held Arianrhod and Gaspard territory which House Rowe had taken after the death of Lord Lonato and the branding of the late lord’s adopted son and heir to House Gaspard, Ashe Ubert, as a traitor and dissolving his claim to his inheritance by Cornelia. 

They had already gotten word that the Kingdom army, as they have now started to call themselves instead of the Loyalist army, was already marching to Rowe using knights from Mateus and Gideon.

Which made said queen regent’s sudden appearance in Bergliez territory a few days later a surprise to everyone.

Claude wasn’t sure what should surprise him more, the fact that she flew to Bergliez territory using Teach or that she only had Dedue (who was also riding a wyvern, much to everyone’s surprise), Ingrid and two battalions of Pegasus Knights with her. 

Actually, there was a bigger thing he just had to note first.

“Wow, Teach. You look like Faerghus threw up on you.” He had commented, making Ingrid and Seteth glare at him while the queen regent chuckled. 

She was wearing a white chest armor with the crest of Blaiddyd etched on it over a minidress similar to what Pegasus Knights usually wore with white fur on the hem and made of the same hue as Dimitri’s blue cape five years ago. She also wore a cloak that was colored the same hue as the blue in the flag of Faerghus and pinned to the chest armor by two white buttons that was etched with the crest of Blaiddyd. The cloak had puffy furs on the top, white fur covering a bit of the black fur underneath, and white fur at the bottom. When she turned around, he noticed that, of course, the crest of Blaiddyd was sewn into the cloak’s back in white. She wore a black long-sleeved turtle-neck shirt underneath the sleeveless minidress which was protected by white fingerless gauntlets. Her fingers were protected by black leather gloves as well while her legs were covered by plain black winter stockings underneath white armored boots that ends two inches above her knees. 

She wore two anemones that was white in color with a purple center on each side of her head and a simple golden crown with a marquise-shaped blue gem on the middle which Hilda would later explain to him was a gem called Winter Tear, a rare gem found in one of the mines in Faerghus’ Sacred Gwenhwyvar that would change it’s color from blue to white depending on how the light hits it. Upon further inspection, he realized that taking in consideration the small black pointed gems on the four sides of the blue gem and the golden three pointed decoration on either side of the gem actually made the crown look like the crest of Blaiddyd.

… again.

“Sorry, Teach. My mistake.” He corrected as he raised an eyebrow, “You look like House Blaiddyd threw up on you.”

“Claude, even if she is our professor, she is still a queen and should be given our utmost respect.” Lorenz chided him before turning towards their professor as he sincerely said, “I apologize for Duke Riegan’s words, Your Majesty. He means no offense.”

The mint-haired woman gave the polite noble an amused smile as she replied, “It’s okay, Lorenz. We all know how Claude is.”

“I feel like I’m being insulted.” The duke of House Riegan deadpanned before sighing and shaking his head, “Well, putting aside your current Blaiddyd heavy attire-”

“I happened to like these clothes.” She commented with a slight pout.

“- let’s go somewhere more private, shall we?” He continued as he ignored her comment, glancing at Seteth as he said, “I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”

A lot didn’t even cover it, it seemed. While the Alliance army had to deal with the javelins of light, the Kingdom army had to deal with large moving statues and lamps that could summon lightning. Seteth remained silent the entire time but finally spoke when it was only the three of them left in the meeting room. Claude had managed to get everyone out by saying that it was going to be a meeting between the leader of the Alliance (him, sorry, Lorenz), the leader of the Kingdom (her) and the leader of the church (which now fell onto Seteth as she was now the queen regent of the kingdom).

“The javelins and those statues…” He stopped and thought about his next words, “They are… weapons created by a civilization that went against the goddess.”

“This civilization wouldn’t happen to be the one that was punished by the Immaculate One, would it?” Claude asked, making the older man glare at him.

“Yes, they would be the same one punished by the Immaculate One in that book that I had specifically confiscated.” He reminded the duke who shrugged.

“Well, just because you confiscated it doesn’t mean I wasn’t able to read a few pages before then.” He casually said, winking at the Seteth.

“Does that mean that these dark mages have uncovered these weapons?” She asked, resting her cheek against her right knuckles as she added, “Or maybe they’re descendants of that civilization themselves.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot answer that.” Seteth said with a frown, “I admit that I do not know much about these dark mages that Lysithea talk about. However… I believe Rhea will have an idea.”

Claude sighed before commenting, “So, in the end, everything goes back to Rhea.” 

“I am truly sorry for not being able to help more.” Seteth said apologetically, “I have been out of touch these past… years and, as such, I’m afraid I have been out of the loop concerning them.”

“It’s okay, Seteth.” She said to the older man before telling both of them, “Our objection remains the same. We must get to Enbarr and take down the empire.”

Both men nod before Seteth asked, “I must ask, Your Majesty, do you plan on joining our operation in Enbarr?”

“Yes.” She nodded at the green-haired man who frowned at her. Sensing what they were going to ask, she explained, “The royal court agreed with my decision. With me here in imperial territory, House Rowe and their allies will not suspect that our army will attack Arianrhod. We will be using the knight orders from House Gideon and House Mateus which will follow the Chevalier Invaincu and the rest of Fhirdiad’s Grand Knight Order while Rodrigue and the members of the new royal court takes care of the kingdom’s business in my absence.”

Claude only had the enthusiastic ramblings of Ashe and Ingrid back in the academy about the knight orders in Fhirdiad. Apparently, there were a lot of knight orders in Fhirdiad with certain specialization and such depending on which house they serve. House Gloucester’s Gloucester Knights were apparently very similar to the Weissvogel Knights of House Weissvogel of the Four Great Houses, mainly relying on lances and horses. House Gautier’s Gautier Knights also rely mostly on lances and horses as well but Ingrid informed him that many of the Gautier Knights were actually Dark Knights as magic was a valuable weapon against the clans of Sreng. House Gaspard’s Gaspard Knights, on the other hand, rely mainly on bows and horses. As such, many knights from the Gaspard Knight Order were bow knights. House Galatea was well known to have the Galatea Pegasus Knight Order and the Pegasus Knight Co battalion they could hire five years ago were apparently newly dubbed Pegasus Knights from Galatea. It was part of their training to aid the church by supporting current students of the officer academy for a year before they could truly be counted as members of House Galatea’s Pegasus Knight Order. House Fraldarius had one of the most unique knight orders as their knights were mostly swordmasters and it was rare to find a Fraldarius knight on horseback which make the current duke being a Holy Knight quite strange. He could never get any of Dimitri’s childhood friends to explain to him why that was but one of the Blue Lion students that was a member of a noble vassal house for House Fraldarius did tell him that the duke started to learn Faith magic after his eldest son had died.

But he was getting off-topic.

All of these knight orders could be ordered by one specific knight: the Chevalier Invaincu of the Grand Knight Order of Fhirdiad. The Chevalier Invaincu was the highest title a knight could receive, second only to both the king’s first knight and the members of the Lionguards, elite knights loyal to House Blaiddyd. Gilbert had apparently been both the first knight of Dimitri’s father and the Chevalier Invaincu before he left and became a Knight of Seiros. He wasn’t sure if he remembered it correctly but he believed he received reports that the current Chevalier Invaincu was a commoner who held the moniker of the White Knight of Faerghus because he had a white steed and wore white light armor into battle. 

“Not to mention, we all know I have to be here to represent the kingdom and…” Her voice brought him back to the conversation and he watched her as she lowered her head before she said, “He… might be in Enbarr.”

Both men turned to look at each other before they turned their attention back at the woman in front of them. Seteth’s voice was clear yet kind as he said, “Byleth, every one of us hopes that Dimitri is still alive but…”

“I know.” She cut him off as she raised her head to stare back, “I know it’s a long shot but I would like to believe nonetheless.”

“We also need to save Rhea.” She reminded them, causing Seteth to nod solemnly.

“For now, let’s focus on what is in front of us.” She said, ending that part of their conversation, and took over the conversation, “Now then, let’s talk about how we can take Enbarr as quickly as possible.”

Claude wasn’t lying when he said that it took a lot of resolve to keep the people in Enbarr even after knowing they were coming and it would hinder their progress but a quick glance at the Golden Deer professor was all he needed to know that the older woman already had an idea on how to circumvent Edelgard’s human walls. By the time they have reached the gates of Enbarr, the queen had received reports that the subjugation of Arianrhod had been successful and they were now sending reinforcements to Enbarr. He wasn’t sure if they would get here in time as they plan on capturing Enbarr in two days. Maybe three days, max.

How?

Well.

It was a tactic everyone in the Golden Deer knew that the professor was fond of.

She called it ‘Stride and Warp Attack’.

Her students called it ‘Suicide Run’.

Claude was actually surprised no one outside their house (and the Blue Lion house) didn't know about it. 

Then again. It was a tactic that was so reckless people didn't really want others to know about it for various reasons (which was the reason why Claude had put his foot down in using it during the Battle of Eagle and Lion). 

For this battle, Ignatz was the one who took the battalion with the Stride gambit and they casted Stride on Lysithea, Ingrid, Lorenz, Flayn and Claude. Immediately after that, Lysithea warped Ingrid to the farthest point she knew she could run after. While the entire imperial army was still surprised by the sudden appearance of a lone Pegasus Knight in the middle of their territory, Claude quickly performed a dance to revitalize Lysithea (he was still pretty sure that the supposed ‘ceremonial dance’ and ‘ceremonial attire’ necessary for the revitalization spell to work was just someone’s big joke to make fun of the mostly serious people of Fodlan) and Lysithea rushed towards Ingrid, followed by Lorenz. Lysithea warped Ingrid once more the second her hand touched Ingrid’s pegasus and Flayn immediately cast Rescue on Lysithea, teleporting her on Lorenz’ horse, just behind him. Once she was securely behind him, Lorenz’ horse galloped back to their defensive line and Ingrid flew straight to Hubert while everyone was still wondering what the hell was happening.

News of Hubert’s demise was soon heard all over the enemy line, causing much confusion and chaos that the Alliance army used to easily overpower the rest of them.

A part of Claude wondered if they could have spared Hubert had they overpowered him with their numbers instead of making Ingrid take him down but he highly doubt the loyal retainer would surrender. That would also mean having to advance their entire army which would, in turn, cause them heavier casualties and most definitely collateral damage which was just unacceptable. 

“I must admit, this does leave a bitter taste in my mouth.” Lorenz commented with a frown after the battle.

“I think it was a brilliant plan. We managed to win without doing that much work.” Hilda retorted before turning towards their professor as she asked with a sweet smile, “Right, Professor?”

“Your Majesty.” The purple-haired noble corrected which just made his pink-haired friend waved her hand dismissively. 

Their professor turned to face the Gloucester heir and tilted her head as she deadpanned, “I’m pregnant.”

Lorenz’ cheeks reddened and the silent man from Duscur glared at him from behind the pregnant woman as he stuttered, “O-of course, I did not mean that Her Majesty would be in the front line nor was I trying to imply that a valiant battle is more important than Her Majesty's health-”

She turned away from the stuttering purple-haired man and the giggling pink-haired woman but Claude chuckled softly when he saw the impish smile on her face. 

They left the subjugation of the capital city to Judith for the Alliance army and the members of the Church of Seiros served as her support while the Golden Deers with Dedue and Ingrid infiltrate the imperial palace. The Almyran gods must have been smiling upon him as Nader also came with the Almyran soldiers. Everyone was a bit wary of the Almyrans but his friends and the queen regent trusted Claude’s scheme so they had accepted the Almyran support. He hoped by the end of this war, the people of Fodlan would see that the Almyrans weren’t the barbarians they thought of them. 

They entered the imperial palace during the evening and the dark mages that Lysithea and Seteth talked about were inside the imperial palace to no one’s surprise.

With crest beasts... 

He wasn’t sure if it was a good strategy or not to keep crest beasts inside an important building such as the imperial palace but to each their own, he supposed.

The dark mages had a dangerous spell at their disposal that made advancing too far without backup fatal and the crest beasts had tough hides that made them capable of taking a lot of damage without faltering. Claude and Raphael had to stay in the middle with their professor and Dedue to keep the attention on them while the rest split into two groups to take out the dark mages. Thankfully, Ignatz seemed to have taken out the leader of the mysterious dark mages as they soon retreated once they heard the news of their leader’s death.

The retreat confirmed Claude’s theory that they weren’t officially part of the empire and was a separate group altogether. The dangerous spell they had in their repertoire was also very similar to Solon’s dark magic which made it all the more likely that they were part of Solon and Kronya’s group. 

No one was surprised when their professor rushed into the throne room with Dedue and Ingrid following closely behind her but that didn’t mean any of them had agreed to her decision. He wanted to follow her quickly but he had been dueling Petra in the air. 

He was a bit awed at how unnecessarily large the imperial palace’s floors were that they could easily fly their wyvern in the air without accidentally hitting any of the people on the ground. Sure, the pillars and walls limited their movements but they could easily use it to shield themselves as well.

He managed to subdue Petra by shooting her wyvern, causing her to fall to the floor. He had already calculated the distance between her current position and the floor below so he knew she should be incapacitated but she’d survive. 

She saw Lorenz holding an unconscious and battered Dorothea in his arms and he ordered all of them to enter the throne room. 

The imperial palace’s throne room was a long hallway and, as Claude had suspected, all of the enemies other than Edelgard had already been taken out. He ordered everyone to keep a defensive line in front of the doors. It was the only entrance to the throne room which meant all of their enemies would have to get through the door if they wanted to enter the throne room. 

Hopefully, the huge crest beasts wouldn’t be able to enter the throne room as well. Those monsters would have to break down the walls just to enter and he was hoping that the imperial palace was made of sturdy walls.

While his friends focused their attention in keeping a defensive line, he flew his wyvern to the end of the throne room.

He arrived in time to see Edelgard on her knees while the queen regent of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus stood before her. In the mint-haired woman’s hand was Areadbhar, the hero relic of House Blaiddyd, and she stared at the white-haired woman with a stoic expression while Edelgard breathed heavily as she used the Sword of the Creator to keep herself upright.

Dedue was a few feet behind his liege, shield and axe at the ready in case the emperor tried anything while Ingrid was above Dedue, ready to use Luin to impale their enemy at her majesty’s command. 

Claude flew closer and stopped right next to Ingrid in time to hear Edelgard speak her next words. 

“My teacher…” She raised her head to stare at the stoic woman as she said breathlessly, “Claim your victory.” 

The older woman closed her eyes as the emperor continued with a clear voice, “Strike me down. You must!”

“Even now…” Edelgard continued, groaning at the pain she was feeling, “... across this land, people are killing each other.”

He saw his professor’s grip on Areadbhar tightened at those words. 

“If you do not act now, this conflict…” The kneeling woman gasped for breath, “... will go on forever.”

Light green eyes opened as the white-haired woman said, “Your path lies across my grave.”

She stared at the woman standing in front of her as she said in a gentle voice, “It is time for you to find the courage to walk it.”

“If I…” She lowered her head as she continued, “... must fall… Let it be by your hand.”

The queen regent silently walked up to the kneeling emperor and raised Areadbhar into the air.

“I wanted…” Edelgard raised her head to smile softly at her, “... to walk with you…” 

She stared at the smiling woman for a moment before saying coldly, “I don’t even know you.”

Edelgard’s eyes widened and her smile fell as she opened her mouth.

But the only sound Claude heard was the sound of Areadbhar slicing the emperor’s head off. He watched her take the Sword of the Creator from the dead emperor’s grip before turning towards them. She raised her head and said in a clear calm tone, “Let’s go. We have a battle to end.”

Both Ingrid and Dedue bowed as they replied, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Her eyes met Claude’s and he nodded silently.

The three of them followed the widowed queen out of the throne room, never looking back.

With the Sword of the Creator back in her hands, most of the imperial troops believed them when they had announced that the emperor was dead. Those who did not were easily subdued by their army. 

The dawn of a new day heralded the fall of the great Adrestian Empire to the combined might of the Alliance and Kingdom armies.

He found her at the balcony overlooking Enbarr in the imperial palace as the sun began to set, sitting on the floor as she held Areadbhar on her lap. Dedue was standing by the door leading to the balcony and he simply nodded silently at Claude as he passed him by. Their army was ensuring the order in Enbarr while Lorenz, Judith and Seteth were implementing his orders which would hopefully finally bring peace in all of Fodlan. 

He sat next to her and watched the sunset silently. 

“He’s not here.” She said softly after a few moments of silence.

He could tell her that there was still a chance. They still haven’t found Rhea and Enbarr was a huge city. The imperial palace also had a huge underground facility that they apparently used as a dungeon. Lysithea had paled at the sight of one of the rooms which made Claude believe that it had been used for something more than just a dungeon.

But he couldn’t give her false hope now.

“I’m sorry, Abje.” Those words were all he could offer her and it frustrated him how powerless he was in all of these.

She shook her head before she said, “It’s not your fault, Claude. There are some things in this world that we cannot change.”

She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on Areadbhar as she whispered, “Even if we have the power of a goddess on our side.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her towards him, resting their temples together. She opened her eyes and stared at the setting sun as she reminded him, “We’re not done yet, Claude.”

“Yeah.” He whispered back.

She slightly pulled away from him so she could turn to face him before she stated, “I’m going to return to Faerghus and take over as queen regent in Dimitri’s place until our child is of age to take the throne.”

“Faerghus would be lucky to have you as their queen.” He commented gently as he turned to face her. Seeing her stoic expression, he frowned slightly as he asked, “Is that what you want?”

She chuckled mirthlessly before replying with a sad smile, “What I want…”

She sighed and turned to face the setting sun once more as she confessed, “What my heart truly desired died that day in Gronder Field.”

“But I can still make his dream a reality.” She continued as her smile became melancholic, “A kingdom that everyone would be proud to call their homeland, nobles and commoners alike, to those with blood from Faerghus and Duscur could live in peace.”

She placed her hand on her stomach as she continued, “A kingdom that this child could lead to a future of peace…”

He stared at her for a few moments before turning his attention towards the sun as it slowly disappear from their view, “I never told you my dream, have I?”

She turned towards him and he smiled softly as he confessed, “I dream of a peaceful land where we can go to a marketplace and see people from all over the world shopping and talking with one another. A noisy marketplace filled with laughter and shops from all over the world. People from Almyra, Fodlan, Dagda, Morfis, Brigid and Duscur walking and shopping peacefully. A land with no borders…”

He stopped when he noticed that tears were falling from her eyes. Her lips curved into a soft smile as she whispered, “Dimitri would have loved to see your dream come true, Claude.”

His voice cracked as he whispered back, “I know.”

As Enbarr welcomes the moon and the stars, two people held one another as they finally had the time to cry over the loss of her beloved and his brother. 

Judith found them the next day and was kind enough not to say anything about their puffy red eyes. 

Then they were moving once more as they learned about those who slither in the dark (which was a long name in Claude’s opinion but he let it passed since there were more pressing things that needed their attention) and the location of Rhea from the letter Hubert left behind.

He was a bit relieved that there were more things to do so they won’t have time to dwell on the confirmation of their worst nightmare from Hubert’s letter.

Hubert had clarified that the rumors of the empire keeping Dimitri imprisoned in Enbarr was false. As far as he and his liege knew, Dimitri had died in Gronder Field.

So it was with a heavy heart that they met up with the recently rescued archbishop. Rhea had been a bit weak and Claude knew that she would have been in a worse shape had they been slower in ending this war. She had answered all of their questions about those who slither in the dark and confirmed Seteth’s guess that they were descendants of the people punished by the goddess for daring to go against her.

… But he wasn’t sure if it was completely true as a vengeful goddess seemed to be at odds with how the mint-haired woman had described the goddess she knew as Sothis. 

However, most of Rhea’s explanation made sense and, if his guess was correct, the children of the goddess that Rhea was talking about wasn’t just her but was also Seteth and Flayn. It wasn’t that much of a stretch considering Flayn was actually a bad liar. He felt no malice in the archbishop’s deception so he supposed she had lied to keep the two safe. 

He was even more surprised that not a lot of people had the same guess as him.

With Rhea’s explanation, they decided to march into Shambala as soon as possible before any of those Slitherers (he was getting tired of calling them ‘those who slither in the dark’, it was too long) decided to use those javelins of light once more. Ingrid has already left to meet up with the kingdom army with their queen’s orders to meet them on Myrddin instead. They would have to rely on the kingdom army as their attacking force because the alliance army had to remain in Enbarr to ensure that the transition of power would go smoothly while the Church of Seiros had to return to the monastery to prepare the prisoners and ensure the security of Garreg Mach in case things went south in Shambala. This would also mean that Judith would have to remain to represent both the kingdom and the alliance until Duke Fraldarius get to Enbarr to represent the kingdom. He had already given her his instructions about how to proceed. He was sure that Duke Fraldarius would agree to his terms and conditions. The queen had also left Areadbhar in Judith’s care so she may give it to Duke Fraldarius for safekeeping on her students’ insistence that the Sword of the Creator’s longer range was better for her in her current situation. Nader and the Almyran soldiers would also be joining them as it was on the way back to Almyra anyway or so Nader nonchalantly explained. 

He wasn’t fooling anyone.

Shambala wasn’t some sort of underground castle.

It was an entire city with strange technology the likes no one in Fodlan or Almyra has ever seen.

And it was also filled with those huge moving statues and those lamps that summoned lightning that had hindered the kingdom army in Fhirdiad.

The good thing was the Kingdom army had experience with both of them and they already had tactics in place that kept their casualties to a minimum and also made their advancement quicker and easier. Those shared training sessions also made it easy for the Golden Deers to fall back to the habit of supporting their Blue Lion partner and coordinate with them without the need of Claude’s or their professor’s orders.

Speaking of the mint-haired woman, he wasn’t sure it was the right call to let a weakened archbishop and a pregnant queen regent into the battlefield but said queen regent had promised to stay in the rear with the archbishop who would not accept no for an answer. He had placed Leonie and Annette to guard her because he knew Leonie will make sure no harm will fall before her and would physically restrain her if the mercenary found it necessary and Annette had both faith and reason spells in her arsenal to support them while also having those cute puppy-dog eyes that made anyone feel guilty for trying to do something she didn’t approve. 

With the Kingdom army leading the advance (and he was seriously worried about how they view battles and their lives as no one in their right mind would order their horse to charge into one of those lightning summoning lamps while it was summoning lightning, Sylvain!), they managed to corner Thales who looked like he was the leader of the Slitherers.

Then their enemies received reinforcement from the west and everything went to hell.

He doesn’t know if he wanted to believe Rhea when she said that the man holding a corrupted version of the Sword of the Creator is really Nemesis but it was hard to argue with her when the white-haired man was screaming “Seiros!” as he charged the weakened archbishop.

Their attacks barely made a dent on the dark shield surrounding the supposed to be dead Nemesis (no, seriously, why was he still alive???) and the other reinforcements was really getting on Claude’s nerves.

He could see that the one leading the reinforcement was the Dark Knight wearing a black wolf helmet. He wasn’t even sure if he was even a Dark Knight as his mount wasn’t a horse but a griffon.

So, apparently, griffons were really a thing here in Fodlan.

Good to know that one of his questions from his academic days was now answered.

Thankfully, the griffon this Dark Knight was riding had broken wings so it remained on the ground.

“Fraldarius, remove him from my sight!” The Dark Knight ordered as he pointed the dark relic that looked exactly like Areadbhar at Claude, his voice distorted by his wolf helmet.

The Falcon Knight silently flew towards him and his wyvern had to quickly dodge the quick sword strike from the female knight.

Up close, he could see the crest of Fraldarius etched on her chest armor and on the glowing dark Aegis shield she had on her left forearm which was evidence enough for him.

So, apparently, not only was Nemesis alive, the ten elites were too.

And if the books about the ten elites he had read were correct, that meant that the one giving the order was the hero Blaiddyd. 

Claude had no time to think as he maneuvered his wyvern to fly straight to the griffon riding Dark Knight with Fraldarius chasing after him.

He almost didn’t see the flash of mint-colored hair that was moving towards Blaiddyd position as well.

He should have expected her to have the same idea as him.

Blaiddyd was the only one who had spoken among the ten elites and he was giving the orders which meant he was the leader. If they take him out, they would cripple the other elites.

He was still going to scold her for getting into the middle of the battle when she promised everyone she wouldn’t. Then he would let Leonie and Annette have a turn with her as those two were probably worried sick by now for losing sight of her. 

His wyvern dove to the ground, causing Blaiddyd’s griffon to screech and rear up. He used the distraction to shoot an arrow at the Dark Knight which the man sliced in half with his lance.

Leaving him open for the Sword of the Creator to detach its blades and strike him from his right side, taking out his griffon in the process. 

With a speed that was completely inhuman, Blaiddyd evaded the blades and the Sword of the Creator only managed to knock his helmet off.

Claude’s eyes widened and all he could manage to choke out was “Dimitri?”

Underneath the wolf helmet was definitely Dimitri. He had managed to get a glimpse of him during the chaos in Gronder Field before the dust storm destroyed their visibility.

It was definitely Dimitri.

But something was wrong.

The blue hue of his right eye was darker, reminding him of the deep sea. 

And he was glaring at Claude with hatred in his eyes.

“Claude!” He growled and his wyvern tried to fly away from the angry…

Was it really Dimitri?

He was too focused on Dimitri that he did not see Fraldarius fly towards him and strike his wyvern. His wyvern staggered in mid-air and Claude lost his grip on his wyvern’s reins. He fell on the floor with a loud thud. He felt a few of his ribs break and all he could do was try to get up as the falcon knight chased his wyvern above him. He felt a strong hand grip his neck and lift him until his feet could no longer touch the floor underneath. He began to gasp for breath as he felt the hand squeezed his neck.

“Dimitri! Stop!” He heard her cry out but could barely see her as she ran towards the man choking him and grab his other arm, “That’s Claude!”

“He’s a traitor!” Dimitri (was it really him?) growled, “He took you away from me!”

What…?

“What are you talking about?!” She shouted as she tried to pull him away from Claude.

He could barely breath and he could feel his fingers digging through his skin.

“That’s right.” Thales’ voice agreed from behind Dimitri, “He took the woman you love away from you, hid her all these years while you grieved her death.”

“Wha-” Her eyes widened as she realized what had happened. She stepped forward so she was between Claude and Dimitri as she said, “They’re lying, Dimitri! Claude never hid me! We’ve been looking for you all this time!”

“Look at her.” Thales’ voice was gentle and pitying, “The Riegan traitor has messed with her mind, made her believe that she loved him instead of you.”

“No. No, Dimitri! Listen to me!” She begged but stopped when she heard Claude cough as Dimitri began to squeeze hard. She placed both her hands on Dimitri’s cheeks as she said with desperation etched in each of her words, “Dimitri, that’s Claude! Don’t you remember? You use to worry that he’ll make a mistake and drink a poison that would be too much for him! You told me that you think he’s great at scheming but he sucks at being a matchmaker!” 

Claude felt the fingers around his neck loosened, letting Claude breathe better. She caressed Dimitri’s cheeks with her thumbs as she continued to try to get to him, “Remember that night after the mock battle? Remember how he ate so much food you feared we would throw up later?”

“Claude would never take me away from you, you know that!” She reasoned as tears fell from her eyes, “He’s your brother! Our brother!” 

The blond-haired man stared at Claude with his mismatched eyes for a few seconds before he closed his eyes as Claude felt the hand gripping his neck tremble. Dimitri dropped the dark-haired man on the ground and let go of the dark Areadbhar in his other hand before he clutched his head as he fell on his knees with a groan. She immediately went on her knees as she called out, “Dimitri!” 

Claude coughed as he tried to get up, watching as the mint-haired woman caressed her husband’s cheeks as she whispered, “It’s really, you. Oh, Dimitri. It is really you, right?”

He was about to walk towards them when he heard the Sword of the Creator sing but that didn’t make sense when-

“Abje!” He screamed as he saw the detached blades of the dark Sword of the Creator fly straight towards the kneeling woman.

“Byleth!” Dimitri seemed to have reacted on instinct, holding his beloved in his arms and using his body to protect her. The detached blades of the Sword of the Creator hit the back of his armor before returning to Nemesis who was walking towards him while he dragged a bleeding Rhea by the hair. The blond man continued to hold his beloved in his arms as he glared at the ancient man. Dimitri’s voice was deeper and rougher as he growled, “Nemesis, you dare attack my wife?! Know your place, cur!”

“Your wife?” Nemesis’ voice was distorted by the dark shield surrounding him, “Blaiddyd, your wife is dead, remember?”

Dimitri’s body froze as the fake king threw Rhea on the floor in front of them as he reminded him, “Seiros killed her in the name of their false goddess, don’t you remember?”

Rhea groaned and tried to get up but her eyes widened when she saw Dimitri, uttering in pain, “Blai…ddyd…?”

“I am…” Dimitri clutched his head and groaned in pain, “My name is…”

“Dimitri!” His beloved placed her hands on his cheeks while Nemesis chuckled.

“I see. You dare take the form of his murdered wife to mess with his head.” Nemesis raised his dark Sword of the Creator as he said, “I shall cut through your illusion, false goddess.”

She raised her Sword of the Creator and blocked his strike. An arrow shot at his dark shield, making him turn towards Claude who was already nocking another arrow.

“Foolish boy. Do you really think that would hurt me?” Nemesis asked in an almost amused tone.

“No.” Claude’s lips curved into a smirk as he added, “But made you look.”

Before Nemesis could react, a wall of ice sprouted between him and the wielder of the true Sword of the Creator.

A hail of arrows from Ignatz, Ashe and Leonie rained down on him, barely denting his shield while the ground erupted into an explosive gush of lava and dark spikes. From behind the three Bow Knights, Mercedes and Lysithea were already reading another spell as a new magic circle appeared on the tip of their magic wands while Marianne kept her magic wand aimed at the ice-covered trail leading to the wall of ice protecting their allies from Nemesis.

“Your Majesty!” Sylvain shouted the same time Lorenz called out, “Claude!”

Their horses galloped towards them and Lorenz shouted, “We must go. The rest are keeping the elites busy but we need to create a defensive line and get Lady Rhea to one of our healers.”

“Your Majesty, are you alr-” Sylvain’s eyes widened as he recognized the man in her arms, “Di-Dimitri?”

“I understand now.” Dimitri whispered in a low gruff voice as he raised his head. He placed his hand on her cheek and rested his forehead against hers, “I love you, my beloved.”

“I love you too, Dima.” She replied immediately, leaning against the warmth of his palm, as confusion and worry warred in her eyes.

“And that is all that matters.” He said cryptically before he grabbed the dark Areadbhar he had dropped. He stood and turned his head towards Marianne as he ordered, “Remove the wall, Maurice.”

Her eyes widened at the name and she lost her concentration. The wall of ice shattered and fell like snow as Dimitri declared, “It doesn’t matter who I am. I am a Blaiddyd, a wolf of winter.”

The dark relic glowed and twitched in his grasp as he growled, “And we shall rip apart any who dare harm our family!”

He aimed the corrupted Areadbhar at Nemesis as he declared in a deep voice, “By attacking the woman I love, your soul shall burn in the eternal flames, Nemesis.”

“Fraldarius! Gautier!” He ordered and Sylvain’s jaw dropped as the Great Knight that he swore had been fighting Felix and Hilda suddenly galloped towards Nemesis while the Falcon Knight that had been chasing Claude’s wyvern swooped down on the other side. They struck Nemesis’ dark shield and it began to crack. 

Dimitri glared at the wielder of the dark Sword of the Creator as he tapped the end of the dark relic to the floor.

At the sound of the lance relic hitting the floor, the dark shield surrounding the King of Liberation shattered. 

“Wha-what’s happening?” Hilda asked as the rest of their group finally caught up to them, “We were fighting these really strong enemies then they just stopped and run towards you guy-”

Her eyes widened and tears began to fall from her eyes as she stuttered, “Di-Dimitri?”

“Your Highness!” Dedue called out, his eyes widening at the sight of his liege.

He turned towards his friends and gave them a small smile as he said, “We shall talk later. For now…”

He turned to glare at Thales who had been silently watching the entire thing and growled, “You shall suffer the same fate as Nemesis for messing with my mind and making me hurt my family.” 

“Kill every last one of them.” He growled as he tapped the end of the dark Areadbhar to the floor once more.

At that command, all of the ten elites began to attack the Slitherers, much to everyone’s confusion.

Claude was the first to recover as he got up and ordered, “Everyone, focus on making sure none of them get out of here! Subdue them or take them down, just make sure they stay down!”

“Okay!” The Golden Deers said while others simply nodded before returning to the fight. 

“Your Highness.” Dedue called out and Claude noticed that the Blue Lions remained by their side.

Dimitri offered his hand towards Byleth who had remained kneeling the entire time. She took his hand and let him pull her up gently before he turned to face his subjects, “Support the elites. Kill them all.”

The Blue Lions turned towards their queen who nodded as she added, “We’ll take care of Nemesis.” 

She turned towards Dedue and Mercedes and ordered, “Take care of Rhea.”

“As you command, Your Majesty.” Dedue bowed before he took Rhea in his arms and ran with Mercedes following him towards one of the corners that he could hide Rhea in while Mercedes looked after her wounds. The rest of the Blue Lion rushed to support their Golden Deer comrades while the three remained to face Nemesis.

Nemesis stared at them before chuckling. He raised his Dark Sword of the Creator as he said, “You think you three can defeat me? Ignorant fools!”

Claude chuckled as he twirled an arrow between his fingers before he nonchalantly said, “I think that was a challenge. Wouldn’t you say, Teach? Dimitri?”

Both of them nodded as they readied themselves. Claude nocked an arrow and aimed it at the white-haired man as he said, “Here’s something you should know, oh great king of liberation. Our royal couple?”

Both of them charged Nemesis and Claude fired his arrow as he declared, “They really hate to lose!”

Nemesis detached the blades of his Sword of the Creator and sliced the arrow aimed at his heart. The original Sword of the Creator sang as its own detached blade met its corrupted counterpart, causing its owner to stagger. The dark Areadbhar pierced through Nemesis’ shoulder and the man howled in anger, using his other hand to punch the blond king. 

Dimitri pulled his dark relic as he crouched, evading the punch directed at him, and Claude’s next arrow pierced their enemy’s fist while the Sword of the Creator sang once more, forcing Nemesis to take a step back to evade the detached blades. Their attack didn’t let up as Dimitri quickly blasted a spark of lighting at Nemesis while his beloved bombarded their enemy with quick bursts of fire. As their magical barrage kept their enemy busy, Claude’s relic glowed with an eerie red light as he aimed an arrow to the ceiling. The red glow engulfed the arrow and he shot it into the air. The arrow shattered right on top of Nemesis and the broken pieces turned into arrows of light that rained down on the false king. Nemesis growled and aimed the corrupted Sword of the Creator to take Claude’s head.

Claude dodged out of the way and Nemesis paid the price of letting his anger get the best of him. He felt the detached blades of the original Sword of the Creator wrap around his arm and, as he turned to glare at the wielder, Dimitri moved to his blind spot and sliced his head clean off with one slash from the dark relic in his hands.

The duke sighed in relief as the liberation king’s corpse fell to the ground as its head rolled away from it. He walked towards the royal couple and asked, “Think he’s dead now?”

His professor flicked her hand and a magic circle appeared by her palm before the floor around the corpse and its head burst as lava erupted, burning all of the remains. Both men turned to stare at the overkill and she shrugged as she said, “Just making sure…”

Claude and Dimitri turned to stare at each other before they both chuckled. The dark-haired man smiled as he opened his mouth-

“Claude, look out!” He heard Hilda’s frantic scream before he felt someone push him so hard he fell and skidded away from them.

“Dimitri!” He heard the queen scream and his eyes widened as he saw Dimitri get thrown across the floor by a blast of dark magic, his body slamming against one of the walls before falling on the floor. The wall broke and debris fell on top of him. 

“Thales!” She screamed in rage and the Sword of the Creator glowed red as she whipped its detached blades towards the caster. Thales dodged the slice but the Sword of the Creator stopped in mid-air, vibrating menacingly before it frenziedly danced around Thales, cutting and slicing in fury.

The pieces of Thales’ body fell to the floor in a bloody mess but neither of them cared as they rushed towards where Dimitri had fell.

“Dimitri!” They both cried out as they quickly removed the pieces of debris pinning him. They held him in their arms as he slowly opened his eyes. His hair and his deathly pale face were drenched in his own blood and his dark armor could not hide the damage he had sustained from both Thales’ attack and the pieces of debris that fell on him.

He turned to look at Claude as he asked weakly, “Are you… hurt?”

“No. I’m okay.” Claude replied immediately as his voice cracked, “Dammit, Dimitri, you idiot!”

The injured man chuckled softly, groaning as the movement aggravated his wounds. He smiled at him as he said weakly, “I know. I just… I wanted to protect you.”

“Not like this!” Claude shouted as tears began to fall from his eyes, “Not at the expense of your life! You idiot!”

“Sorry.” He mumbled before turning towards the woman crying on his other side, “My beloved… I… I missed you so much.”

She sobbed as she took his hand and held it as she whispered, “I miss you too, Dima. Not a single day passed by that I didn’t think of you.”

Claude placed his hand on top of theirs as he added, “You have a lot of days to make up for, Dimitri! You hear me? We’re not letting you off the hook so easily!” 

She chuckled as her tears continued to fall, “Claude’s right! You made us look for you for a long time!”

Dimitri’s lips curved into a sad smile as he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Seeing his eyes start to drop, Claude begged, “Nononono. Don’t close your eyes! Just hang on, Dimitri!”

He turned around and shouted, “Marianne! Merce-”

His eyes widened as he saw that elite ten were standing in front of them. From behind them, their comrades could only stare in horror and despair, unable to move forward.

One of the elites, a Gremory, knelt in front of them and placed her hand on Dimitri’s leg. The injured man’s breath hitched but his head rolled to the side, resting his forehead on his beloved’s bosoms as his eyes began to close.

Claude wasn’t sure but he might have seen the elite’s mouth move from behind her veil but no sound came out. He saw a dark mist move from the elite’s hand towards Dimitri. Claude wasn’t sure how he could explain it but the mist didn’t feel like harmful. It almost felt… soothing? The other elites surrounded them and knelt as well. They placed a hand on Dimitri’s legs and the same dark mist moved from their hand towards the dying man. Fraldarius and Gautier, who had knelt beside the two of them, placed their hand on Dimitri’s shoulders in an almost reverent manner. The more the dark mist transferred to the king, the more the elite’s body began to fade.

The Gremory was the first to completely fade, followed by the other elites by Dimitri’s legs. As each elite began to fade, color slowly began to return on Dimitri’s face. 

When the last elite faded, Dimitri’s eyes opened and he gasped for breath, surprising both of them. Tears fell from his eyes as he whispered in a deep broken voice, “Thank you, my friends.”

After uttering those words, his eyes closed once more.

“Dimitri!”

With the death of Thales, the rest of the Slitherers (which he finally learned from Seteth was called Agarthians) were easily routed by their army. They could not be sure if that was the last of them but, at the very least, it would be safe to assume that they managed to take out the majority of them.

They had decided to retreat to Castle Goneril as it was nearest. No one knew if the leak came from someone working in Castle Goneril or if it came from one of the soldiers of the kingdom army, all they knew was word had gotten out that Dimitri was alive.

Dimitri rested for an entire day before he said he was alright which worried them all. Rhea, even though she was worse off than any of them, asked that she be left with Dimitri alone so they may talk. They refused, of course, so they made a compromise. Rhea could talk to Dimitri as long as he, Dedue and the Golden Deer professor were in the room. They had promised to remain quiet and Claude regretted making such a promise considering what the two had talked about as each passing sentence leaving their lips made Claude want to ask a hundred questions.

Rhea had tried to confirm that the man they had saved was really Dimitri. She was unsure how the Slitherers were able to do it but, according to her, they either took his corpse or his dying body back to Shambala and used the hero Blaiddyd to either resurrect or save him. The dark blue right eye Dimitri now had and that he hid so that no one would ask any questions was the same color as Blaiddyd’s eyes which meant the Slitherers may have either fused them together or they had used parts of Blaiddyd’s body to replace the broken parts of Dimitri’s body. 

Rhea was more inclined to believe that they had fused both Dimitri and Blaiddyd together. It would also account for the moments of confusion Dimitri would have, calling people by their last name (except Marianne who he could call ‘Maurice’) and his sometimes hostile attitude towards Rhea whenever he would call her ‘Seiros’. It would also account for the strange fragmented memories Dimitri would sometimes remember about his ancestor that he would confusingly think of his own for a few moments. 

But Dimitri was doing okay, much to everyone’s surprise. He even overheard him confess to his wife that he could no longer hear the voices of the dead (Claude didn’t even know he could hear them) and it was now replaced by flashes of memories that didn’t belong to him. He was getting better at distinguishing which memory was his and which was his ancestor’s immediately. It helped that everyone was supportive and understanding, happy to have him back safe and sound. 

Staying in Castle Goneril with his closest friends from both Golden Deer and Blue Lion made Claude feel like he was back in the academy five years ago. Back to a time where everything was simple and hopeful…

But he never forgot that the future waits for no one.

Dimitri found him tending the anemone flower bed in the inner courtyard of Castle Goneril. He had found the flower bed by accident and the sight of the white anemones with a purple center made him remembered those dark days in Castle Riegan. He could only suspect that Hilda had planted these anemones herself when she had returned to Castle Goneril. His heart ached at the thought of his best friend planting and taking care of a flower bed all by herself. He had been planning on just looking at them but he couldn’t help but notice that the maintenance of the flowers weren’t up to his standards.

Or, he should say, up to his and Hilda’s standards.

He couldn’t blame Hilda though. She hadn’t been back in Goneril since they all reunited five months ago (was it just been five months? It felt like eight months…) so these anemones were being cared for by people who didn’t know how he and Hilda cared for them.

The blond-haired man didn’t say anything at first, simply taking off his dark blue coat and rolling his sleeves before he crouched next to Claude and began to tend the flowers as well. A quick glance behind them was all Claude needed to see that Dedue was standing a few feet away, having a clear view of them but giving them privacy at the same time. They remained silent for a few minutes before Dimitri whispered, “She’s pregnant.”

He wasn’t sure if the older man was freaking out or trying to tell him about it so he didn’t glance at him as he said nonchalantly, “Yup. It’s yours, by the way.”

Dimitri chuckled softly before replying, “Yes. They explained that to me.”

Hearing the word ‘they’, Claude finally turned to stare at him as he asked, “What did Rhea say?”

Dimitri’s smile disappeared as he replied, “She doesn’t believe what happened to Byleth’s mother would happen to her. At the very least, she believed that the goddess would protect her.”

He raised an eyebrow as he asked, “And what do you two believe?”

“I…” The older man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and lowered his head to stare at the anemone in front of him as he replied, “I believe in Byleth. She agreed with Rhea that Sothis wouldn’t let anything happen to our child so I will believe in this goddess of hers.”

Claude couldn’t help but snort before he said, “Careful, your majesty. It would mean trouble if people hear the king of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus talk like that.”

Dimitri turned to face his close friend and raised an eyebrow as he retorted, “Well, according to Rodrigue, I would not be the king of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus but the king of the United Kingdom of Fodlan.”

Claude grinned as he asked back, “Oh, did he tell you that?”

Dimitri’s brows furrowed as he asked, “What are you scheming, Claude?”

The dark-haired man blinked innocently at him as he asked back, “What makes you think I’m scheming anything?”

The blond-haired man rolled his eyes before he listed, “Let’s see, where do I begin? Apparently, you got the five ruling lords of Leicester Alliance to agree in becoming part of Faerghus and Riegan territory is currently being ruled by one of the vassal houses under House Riegan without any need to get your approval over any decision they make. The houses that were under Adrestia have started to swore fealty to House Blaiddyd, even the ones that are closer to Alliance territory. Not to mention, the head of House Daphnel has also sworn her house to mine even though House Daphnel’s relationship with the Kingdom has been problematic since House Galatea defected to Faerghus.”

“Okay, okay.” He waved his hand dismissively, stopping Dimitri from continuing his report (he really wasn’t in the mood to hear about all the political ongoings of Fodlan at the moment). He sighed before he admitted, “I’m leaving Fodlan.”

“What?!” Dimitri’s eye widened but he didn’t say anything else when Claude raised his hand to stop him.

“I have unfinished business to take care of outside of Fodlan.” He said vaguely yet his next words were filled with conviction and determination, “For the sake of my dream… of our dream, I have to leave for a while.”

Dimitri stared at him for a few seconds before he asked in a thoughtful tone, “This business outside of Fodlan… would be in Almyra, wouldn’t it?”

“Maybe.” Claude replied vaguely with an impish smile.

His close friend stared at him for a few moments before he sighed in resignation. Instead of stopping him, he only asked in a slightly resigned tone, “Claude, please tell me you’re not planning on overthrowing the current royal family of Almyra then leave me and my queen to take care of everything.”

Claude couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that. He started wheezing and his ribs started to hurt as the very thought of overthrowing his own family was such an absurd and hilarious thought that he couldn’t help becoming hysterical over it. Dimitri frowned at his friend’s antics and emphasized, “I’m serious, Claude. I’m already imagining the amount of paperwork we would have to take care of to ensure the peace here in Fodlan and I am having nightmares about it. Please don’t conquer any other nation for Fodlan. Just drafting the treaty for any conquered nation would kill us.” 

Claude shook his head and tried to stop his laughter enough to say something. Seeing Dimitri’s serious expression, he snorted and began to laugh once more. His laughter must have summoned her because the blond king’s face turned into one of pure relief as he saw her, “My beloved. Please talk to your brother and tell him not to conquer Almyra in our name.”

She raised an eyebrow at the strange request but dutifully ordered in the same tone she used to tell any of her students to not run inside the classroom (which happened more often than it should in Golden Deers), “Claude, don’t conquer or liberate any countries in the name of House Blaiddyd, Fodlan or any other names you might think of that will be linked back to us.” 

Claude’s laughter began anew at the specific order, knowing that she learned to do such a thing because Claude (and Hilda) liked bypassing her orders or instructions using the loopholes in the words she would use, while she turned towards her husband and commented, “He’s your brother too.”

“If he’s scheming, he’s yours.” Dimitri clarified which made her cross her arms.

“Oh? And when would he be yours?” She challenged.

He shrugged as he replied, “Any time he’s matchmaking, I suppose.”

“Well then, I suppose he will be bringing shame to House Blaiddyd with his atrocious matchmaking skills.” She deadpanned which only made the king chuckle.

“Hey!” Claude finally managed to stop laughing so he could defend himself, “I got you two together, didn’t I?”

They both turned towards him and shrugged as they deadpanned, “You had help.”

Claude pouted and stood so he could stare at both of them as he asked, “Oh, I get it. This is the whole ‘tease your little brother’ thing people do, isn’t it?”

Dimitri stood as well, taking with him one Anemone from the flower bed. The royal couple replied in unison, “No, this is just the usual ‘tease Claude’ thing we always do.”

He glared at them for a few seconds before the three of them began to laugh. 

He watched Dimitri place the anemone behind her ear and his lips curved into a soft smile as he saw the love in their eyes as they held hands. Grinning, he jumped at them and wrapped his arms around them, making them yelp.

He held them close as he promised, “I’ll make our dream come true so…” 

He closed his eyes as he asked, “Wait for me, okay?”

He felt their arms around him and he relaxed as they embraced him, his heart soaring as he heard them whisper.

“We’ll keep doing what we can here as well to make our dream come true so do what you must, Claude.”

“And once everything’s done, come back to us, okay?”

“Yeah.” He tightened his hold on them, “I promise.”

Archbishop Rhea officially crowned Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd and Byleth Eisner-Blaiddyd as the first king and queen of the United Kingdom of Fodlan a week later in Garreg Mach. Everyone from Golden Deer and Blue Lion were there to celebrate and congratulate the royal couple. The celebration lasted the entire day and night, filled with laughter and cheering as well as drunken singing and dancing.

The next day, Claude von Riegan left Fodlan.

The next months were hectic as Fodlan started to heal from the five year long war. King Dimitri and Queen Byleth were once more wedded in Castle Blaiddyd and was officiated by the archbishop, more as a formality as their previous wedding five years ago was already binding in the eyes of the Church of Seiros. Wedding the royal couple was the last act Archbishop Rhea did before stepping down. She was replaced by her second-in-command Seteth and his ‘sister’, Flayn, who started to usher in reforms within the church. 

King Dimitri and Queen Byleth ruled Fodlan as equals and it was not unheard of to hear the two argue over certain problems plaguing Fodlan yet everyone would attest to the fact that none of their arguments ever left the council room. Outside the council room, they remained devoted to one another and they would often be seen tending the anemone garden together in Castle Blaiddyd. The royal couple focused on rebuilding Fodlan and providing relief for those who had suffered greatly during the war, most especially those who had been orphaned during and after the war. 

Eight months later, the royal couple was blessed with a son who bore a major crest of Blaiddyd. The crown prince was named Lambert Jeralt Eisner-Blaiddyd and all of Fodlan celebrated the day of his birth. 

The next week, the king of Almyra himself visited Castle Blaiddyd with a mountain of gifts for baby Lamb (a nickname that stuck after Lysithea had joked about how the baby was more of a lamb than a piglet as Felix commented). 

The royal couple could only stare at the unnecessary amount of gifts as the new king of Almyra reminded them with a grin, “Well? Didn’t I tell you I’d spoil your child rotten?”

The royal couple turned to grimace at each other, knowing the Almyran king well enough to know that this was his passive-aggressive way of punishing them for not inviting him to their wedding.

… Again.

* * *

*****Lore and Information For This 2nd Part*****

**The Wyvern Teach**

Claude’s wyvern’s name is based on eisneRiegan’s name for his wyvern. It’s a joke between us that Claude named his wyvern ‘Teach’ which everyone teases him about (his Barbarossa wyvern is named ‘Omar’ though because of Joe Zieja’s video) but they don’t know that Dimitri’s horse is actually named ‘Byleth’ (Marianne and Dedue are the only people who knew about the horse’s name) and Dimitri is always flustered when someone asks what’s the name of his horse. (No one found out but Sylvain had joked it was named after Byleth and no one believed him… while Dimitri almost had a heart attack)

**Light Crystals**

A common tool used in the School of Sorcery to help students focus when they are just starting. It is made from the same crystal a lot of magic wands used to amplify their user’s magical proficiency and might. Once a magic user lit up the crystal, the crystal will glow until either the user turns it off (this is part of the student’s training in the School of Sorcery to practice control) or a specific time has passed (the duration depends on how large the crystal is, similar to the warming crystal). In the story, Ignatz received the light crystal he used when he was starting out from Lorenz who had been a student in the School of Sorcery before. Ashe, being a bow knight, did not activate the crystal itself. Instead it was activated beforehand. Due to the common poor visibility in Faerghus caused by harsh snow storms (more common in the northern and central kingdom territories) or heavy fog (more common in the southern kingdom territories), bow knight scouts would keep a small supply of arrows with a light crystal tip (sharpened to a shape of an arrow tip to ensure accuracy) which they would use to signal their position to their comrades. The light would pierce through snow storms and fog. However, the light will also give away their position to their enemies so caution is a must. Just taking out one arrow with the light crystal and nocking it will give enough time for an enemy sniper to take out the scout, making it dangerous to the scout and should only be used in dire circumstances. (Other than bow knights, Faerghus’ knight orders uses Pegasus Knights and Dark Knights as scouts as well, depending on where the knight order originated) 

**Faerghus and Sieges (spoilers for CF route)**

Due to the cold rugged lands, Faerghus has never been rich in resources. The fact that the death of King Lambert Egitte Blaiddyd has led to minor revolts of small lords trying to gain more power and banditry becoming a norm has also negatively affected the resources each territory could procure. Faerghus is not in a good state to actually defend themselves from invaders once Arianrhod to the south, Galatea to the east or Gautier to the west is captured. This is why Dimitri held his final stand in Tailtean Plains in CF route as the only way to stop Adrestia from marching to Fhirdiad was to take the main force down via a pincer attack with the Church of Seiros as Fhirdiad cannot withstand a siege due to limited resources. In Wilted Sunflower (shameless plug!), the wounded are sent to Castle Fraldarius as the castle is more secure and troops can easily retreat to Gautier territory or to the western coast. The terrain in the northern territories are also harsher and would have given the empire a hard time, giving the kingdom troops advantage over their enemies, especially during the colder seasons. Retreating to the northern territories and consolidating Faerghus’ military to defend the northern borders might have been the most logical step but Dimitri was blinded by his desire to kill Edelgard and, instead, took a final stand in Tailtean Plains with the Church of Seiros. It is also due to the fact that prolonged battles are highly inadvisable in Faerghus that most of their tactics are meant to finish a battle swiftly and why crest bearers and hero relics are truly necessary to Faerghus. 

**Class Change**

Byleth’s ‘class change’ is heavily inspired by both Dimitri’s Great Lord class and the Pegasus Knight class (mainly so she would wear a flowing dress that would hide her body). Here’s a [link](https://twitter.com/AngelInATeecup1/status/1193004971878313984) to how it looks like . It would either be called “Queen Regent” or “Winter Anemone” (I haven’t really thought about it) and its class skill is “Long Live the Queen” (grants +5 avo and +5 crit to any unit adjacent to her during enemy turn). It’s an unmounted class that has access to magic and grants bonuses to lance, bow, and authority. 

**Warp Attack, Gambits and Dance**

It is possible to end Hubert’s stage in 1 turn by using Stride->Lysithea warps flier attacker->Dancer dances Lysithea -> Lysithea moves and warps flier attacker again -> Flier moves to Hubert’s position and one shot him. 

Gambits are the battalion’s special attack (or their signature attack) and are either weapon based (example: Fusillade), item based (example: Poison tactic) or magic based (example: Group ice magic). Stride is a magic based gambit as it enhances their allies’ (and horses) stamina so they could travel longer distances without needing a break. Magic based gambits are usually either spells with greater area of effect (group ice magic) or complicated spells that needs multiple casters to work (Stride).

The Dancer’s Dance command is actually a type of magic that rejuvenates the target’s stamina. An advanced version of this magic will also augment the target’s physical and magical prowess momentarily.

**“Where’s Claude’s Speech?”**

Claude made the speech to keep Nemesis distracted so Byleth could deal the final blow. This was not necessary in this fic because he knew that the royal couple just needed a few seconds to take Nemesis down which he gave by making Nemesis focus his attention on him.

**Timeline and Shambala**

The Alliance army advanced faster in this fic than in canon due to a lot of factors which were mentioned in the fic. Because of this, both the empire and the slitherers had to change their tactics as well. Death Knight remained in Faerghus instead of going to Fort Merceus because of the Loyalist/Kingdom army’s attack, for example. Nemesis being woken intentionally in Shambala was due to the sudden attack of the Kingdom Army with Claude and the others while a lot of their high ranking members were already dead (Cornelia) or missing (Maison), forcing their hand. Dimitri had been deployed as Blaiddyd as well to control the ten elites as well as support Nemesis (but Thales also ordered it because he was sadistic). The shield that surrounds Nemesis weakens each time an elite dies in the game, so in this fic the shield is actually maintained by the ten elites. By declaring Nemesis as his enemy, Fraldarius and Gautier broke the shield protecting him immediately as he was no longer under the protection of the ten elites by the orders of their leader, Blaiddyd (Dimitri). They also brought the ten elites so that the elites would be able to kill Nemesis in case the liberation king turned against them as they had more control over the ten elites than Nemesis.

**Crest Effect on Pregnancy**

Not much is known about the effect of a baby’s crest during pregnancy but it has been noted that a long pregnancy could mean the child they would bear would have a major crest. Byleth’s situation is also a special case as she has the progenitor god’s powers inside her. It is not known what effects this would have on their children at the end of this fic but one of them is the fact that they can actually hear Sothis’ voice as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Abje is Persian for ‘sister’ as I wanted to use Claude’s jp nickname for Byleth kyoudai but using ‘sister’ seems off in the dialogue so Persian version it is.
> 
> I’m not tagging this as Major Character Death or Temporary Character Death tag because Dimitri was never confirmed as dead in the entirety of this fic. Everything was just rumors and even Rhea isn’t sure if the Slitherers revived or saved him using Blaiddyd. XD
> 
> This fic was built around this [plot](https://twitter.com/AngelInATeecup1/status/1183275657939185664) (click for a twitter thread I made which I included in this end notes because it’s major spoiler to the twist XD) I had randomly. And, from here, we now have the Flower Divergence Series. This probably means I’ll do a Silver Snow route version of Dimileth. I don’t know yet. We’ll see.  
Also, you bet there’s a Hanakotoba for the potato flower XD  
“Blessing”, “Fondness”, “Charity, and “Compassionate”

**Author's Note:**

> The main theme of these fics is now, apparently, flowers so here’s the Hanakotoba for Anemone:  
“Fleeting Love” / “Short-Lived Love”  
“The Sorrow of Love” / “The Pain of Love”  
“Forsaken” / “Abandoned”  
(Special Meaning of a White Anemone) “Truth” and “Hope”  
(Special Meaning of a Purple Anemone) “I Believe In You and I Wait For You”


End file.
